Popular!
by Noukka
Summary: [Popular! You're gonna be popular!] Gabriella asks Sharpay a huge favour, and Sharpay decides to help her. A Troypay and Ryella, joined with stessa.
1. Prologue

_Hi guys ;p This is Stessa and MelleG, once again writing a fic together. We know we are already writing two right now, but we got this idea, and yeah… You see, I (Stessa) got obsessed with the Wicked Soundtrack, and especially the song Popular. I wanted MelleG to listen to it, but she refused. Then I got her convinced, and after she'd listened to it a couple of times, she fell in love with it too. So here we are, writing this fic, based over the great song Popular! We hope to see you read and review. And btw, this is a Troypay and Ryella story._

_**Disclaimer; **We don't own HSM or the song "Popular", that's from Wicked. _

* * *

**Popular!**

**Prologue.**

"Are you ready, Gabby?" Troy asked, smiling to his best friend.

"I don't know if I can do it…" Gabriella said, looking at the big house, they stood outside. It was white, and quite intimidating. But the help for her cries was right inside, along with the man of her dreams. It had taken Troy forever to convince her to get Sharpay's help.

They were friends. Sort of. But they didn't really hang out much, but they spoke in school and got along. They've been to the mall a few times, and Troy meant that was enough for Gabriella to ask her. If she wanted Ryan that bad, and wanted him to notice her, then Sharpay must be an expert. After all, Ryan took notice to her all the time.

"Just go in there." Troy said, "Sharpay is really not that bad. Don't worry, she wont bite your head off."

"Okay." Gabriella said, "I'll call you later, Troy. Thanks for supporting me."

"Anything for you, Gabby." Troy replied.

She shot him a last smile, and slowly made her way up to the house, afraid of what was to come. Maybe Sharpay would reject her, and tell her to take care of it on her own? She would feel like such a loser if that was. She would anyway, because no one really paid attention to her. She had been quite popular when she came to the school last winter, and people thought she might be dating Troy, but the moment they figured she wasn't, things weren't like that anymore.

And it didn't help that her and Troy blew off the Winter Musical, and had to leave the parts as Arnold and Minnie to Ryan and Sharpay two weeks before the opening, because they couldn't get it right. People had really believed she was there to change the school, but she had let them down. So now they didn't like her that much any longer.

Except Chad, Taylor and Troy. And surprisingly Ryan and Sharpay. They actually talked to her, and acted like best friends. Which Gabriella really appreciated. But then she started feeling weird around Ryan, and… Urgh! Stupid crush!

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door, halfway hoping that no one was home. She wasn't in luck though, because two seconds later, Sharpay opened the door, with a confused expression.

"Gabby… Hi." She mumbled, biting her lip, "Uhm… You wanna come in?"

"Thanks." Gabriella said, stepping into the hallway. Sharpay closed the door behind her, and looked expectantly at her, questions in her eyes.

"So, why are you here?"

"I need your help." Gabriella confessed.

"My help?"

"Yes." Gabriella said, "I sorta… Well, I want to be popular. Like you."

"Like me? That's so sweet!" Sharpay said, clutching her hand in front of her heart.

"Well, we're sorta friends now." Gabriella said, "So do you think you can help me?"

Sharpay looked at her, a smile playing on her lips, "_Gabby - now that we're friends, I've decided to make you my new project."_

A project? Wasn't that to exaggerate it a little bit?, Gabriella frowned, "_You really don't have to do that._"

"_I know._" Sharpay replied, a soft smile covering her face,"_That's what makes me so nice!_"

She took Gabriella's hand and pushed her gently towards the stairs. Sharpay took place in front of her, and opened her mouth;

"_Whenever I see someone  
Less fortunate than I  
(And let's face it - who isn't  
Less fortunate than I?)  
My tender heart  
Tends to start to bleed,_"

She again, held a hand in front of her heart, and dragged Gabriella to her feet, leading the way to her room, right down the hall, on first floor.

_  
_"_And when someone needs a makeover  
I simply have to take over  
I know, I know, exactly what they need  
And even in your case  
Tho' it's the toughest case I've yet to face  
Don't worry - I'm determined to succeed  
Follow my lead  
And yes, indeed  
You will be:_"

She opened her arms, to let Gabriella take in her room, and continued to sing:

_"Popular!  
You're gonna be popular!  
I'll teach you the proper ploys  
When you talk to boys  
Little ways to flirt and flounce  
I'll show you what shoes to wear  
How to fix your hair  
Everything that really counts,"_

She opened her walk-in closet, and took Gabriella in there. She roamed through her dresses, once in awhile taking out a few to hold up against Gabriella's body. Just to see if it would look good on her. All the while she did that, she was still singing, making Gabriella really confused.

_"To be popular  
I'll help you be popular!  
You'll hang with the right cohorts  
You'll be good at sports  
Know the slang you've got to know  
So let's start  
'Cause you've got an awfully long way to go:"_

Sharpay took Gabriella's hands, and danced around her huge room, swaying gently to the sound of her own voice.

_"Don't be offended by my frank analysis  
Think of it as personality dialysis  
Now that I've chosen to be come a pal, a  
Sister and adviser  
There's nobody wiser  
Not when it comes to popular -  
I know about popular  
And with an assist from me  
To be who you'll bee  
Instead of dreary who-you-were: are:  
There's nothing that can stop you  
From becoming popu-  
Ler: lar:_

_La la la la  
We're gonna make  
You popular_

_When I see depressing creatures  
With unprepossessing features  
I remind them on their own behalf  
To think of  
Celebrated heads of state or  
Specially great communicators  
Did they have brains or knowledge?  
Don't make me laugh!"_

She did a few weird faces, and started jumping on the bed, with a confused Gabriella standing there. She didn't know what was going on – and why Sharpay was acting like this? Who did suddenly just start singing? No one she knew, that was for sure. Or… Apparently, Sharpay did.

_"They were popular! Please -  
It's all about popular!  
It's not about aptitude  
It's the way you're viewed  
So it's very shrewd to be  
Very, very popular  
Like me!"_

Sharpay stood next to Gabriella again, and softly said; "_Why, Miss Gabriella, look at you. You're beautiful_."

Gabriella shook her head, and made her way for the door, "_I - I have to go:"_ she mumbled, and then she left.

Sharpay looked confused, but softly shrugged her shoulders, "_You're welcome!_

_And though you protest  
Your disinterest  
I know clandestinely  
You're gonna grin and bear it  
Your new found popularity  
La la la la  
You'll be popular -  
Just not as quite as popular  
As me!_"

She finished the last few lines with a beautiful voice, most for her own enjoyment. After all, Gabriella just left, and… then it hit Sharpay. Gabriella just left! She wasn't supposed to leave! She was supposed to be here, for Sharpay to help. Sharpay quickly jolted down the stairs, wanting to catch Gabriella before she left.

--

"So, you really wanna help me?" Gabriella asked, looking at Sharpay with begging eyes. Sharpay had managed to catch her on their front porch, and had dragged her inside again. She'd apologised for the song, and told her not to worry. Sharpay was to the rescue.

"Of course." Sharpay said, "Why is it so important anyway?"

"Well…" Gabriella awkwardly fitted with her hands, "I kinda want Ryan to notice me."

"What!?" Sharpay shrieked, "You like Ryan? O-M-G; that's so cool!"

"O-M-G?" Gabriella questioned.

"Oh my God." Sharpay told her, but then she frowned, "Wow, you really need to learn some slang too."

"Okay…" Gabriella said, "What now?"

"First;" Sharpay said, "You need a new wardrobe."

* * *

_Okay, so Sharpay has plans now. This was just the prologue, and we'll be back soon, if you want us to continue, of course. It was actually funny cuase after I (MelleG) had heard the song I wanted to write a fic. I told Stessa and she said she wanted too. So we fought about it. But as you see we ended writing it together. Anyway, leave us a review and tell us what you think!?_

**Tootles, **MelleG and Stessa.

Peace out!


	2. Chapter 1

_Hi, thanks for the reviews for the prologue, they were greatly appreciated. You should know that this story will be very short, but also very cute and hopefully funny at times (we'll need to embarrass Troy, we have it all planned out), and yeah… The chapters wont be long either, they're also just cute, little ones. Here is your update. _

_**Disclaimer:**_

* * *

--

_And when someone needs a makeover  
I simply have to take over  
I know I know exactly what they need  
And even in your case  
Tho' it's the toughest case I've yet to face  
Don't worry - I'm determined to succeed_

--

**Chapter 1 **

Sharpay opened Gabriella's closet. She quickly looked at the clothes. Okay, so where were the tube tops? Where were the mini skirts? Where did she put her high hells and black boots? Where the hell had she hidden her cute hats, and long dresses? Where were all the useable _in_ clothes? "Is this all you have?" Sharpay asked, disbeliefs streaming through her voice. She took out a blue skirt and held it up to Gabriella, trying to see where the fashion in it was.

There was none.

"Yes." Gabriella answered, confused.

Sharpay shook her head, and threw the skirt on the floor. She started to grab the rest of her clothes, one by one, to quickly look at it, before it landed on top of the blue skirt on the floor. None of this was useable! "We can't use any of this. You need a whole new wardrobe. How can you even make yourself wear any of this?!" Sharpay exclaimed. "Clearly you need _my_ help. These clothes are not going to make my brother notice you!"

"We can't use _any_ of it? But I like my clothes." Gabriella protested, whining. She looked at all the clothes she usually wore, lying in a heap on the floor, shot down because of Sharpay's standards.

"Okay, Gabriella. Before I will continue my helping, we need to clear something out. Do you want my brother?" Sharpay asked, looking Gabriella deep in the eyes.

"Y..yes." Gabriella stammered, unsure if that was the answer Sharpay was hoping to hear.

"Good, then we have to throw all this out." Sharpay said, pointing at the floor.

"Can't I just put it in a bag and place it in the cellar?" Gabriella questioned.

"Do whatever the hell you want." Sharpay said, "Just don't wear any of it, ever again, deal?"

"Deal…" Gabriella whispered, swallowing hard.

"Then come on, Gabby! Bring some money. We are going to the mall!" Sharpay exclaimed, excitedly waving her hands in the air.

Gabriella bit her lip, quickly got her wallet and followed Sharpay out the door.

--

"So, clearly, you need something pink!" Sharpay said, walking along the shelves in one of her favorite shops in the Albuquerque mall.

"Pink?" Gabriella questioned, unsure, "I'm not really sure pink is my color. How about-"

"Think PINK!" Sharpay cut her off, throwing a mini skirt into her arms, "Listen Gabby, you're very sweet, and your clothes are fine… for a grandma. You really need to pep it up a bit. And look at me, don't I have guys noticing me all the time?"

"Yeah…?"

"Great, glad we agree." Sharpay smiled, throwing some tops and pants on top of the skirt Gabriella had in her arms. It didn't take Sharpay many seconds to fill her pile in Gabriella's arms, with jeans, tops, blouses, skirts, etc. The pile was soon so high, that Gabriella couldn't even see where she was going.

"Uhm, Sharpay?" she questioned, her voice muffled, because she was behind all that clothes, "Don't you think we have enough now?"

"Enough!?" Sharpay let out a short laugh, "Please Gabby, a woman never wears the same outfit twice in public. And the clothes you have there!? Huh, that could fit one of the shelves in my closet. We need more!"

"Sharpay, why don't we start with this?" Gabriella suggested, "It's a lot of clothes, and this store really looks expensive, I'm not rich like you, remember!?"

"Fine…" Sharpay said, letting out a sigh, "But you should know that maybe only one out of 10 of those things you've picked will be right for you. You have to think about color, label, cut and material."

"What, really?" Gabriella asked, stumbling into dressing room, where she threw all the clothes on the floor, "What happened to just trying on clothes and buying what looks cute for you?"

"_I_ happened." Sharpay said, shutting the door in front of Gabriella's face, before she could reply to anything, "Now, put an outfit on you think match and model it for me."

Gabriella sighed and got to work, figuring out Sharpay's sense of style, while Sharpay sat down and started to polish her nails, while listening to the Wicked Soundtrack on her ipod. Oh, how she loved the song _Popular_!

--

_I'll show you what shoes to wear  
How to fix your hair  
Everything that really counts_

--

"So, Daniel, if you just cut some of it off in the front, and then-"

"Like fringe?" Daniel questioned, cutting Sharpay off.

"No.." Sharpay shook her head, "No, not like fringe, just make it fall much more. And then cut some of it off in the back, because this girl will look so much cuter with shorter hair!"

"What!?" Gabriella shrieked, looking at Sharpay, a scared look in her eyes, "But I like my hair."

"Relax, I know what I'm doing." Sharpay smiled, padding her cheek.

"She really does." Daniel agreed, fiddling with his scissors and such, "She's amazing to this. She knows what looks good on anybody. You're lucky to have Sharpay's help with this."

"See?" Sharpay questioned, shooting her a sweet smile, into the mirror, "Now, you sit here and enjoy your latte, and I'm gonna go to the shoe shop right across from here and pick you some boots, stilettos, flats, flip-flops and ballerina shoes."

"Aren't my shoes good enough either?" Gabriella asked, shooting Sharpay a sad smile.

Sharpay looked down at Gabriella's feet and bit her lip. She lifted her head, and shot Gabriella a fake smile, "No comments." She quickly replied, threw a magazine into Gabriella's lap, and hurried out of the shop.

--

"So, we had a productive day." Sharpay said, throwing the 20 bags she was carrying, onto Gabriella's bed. "It was fun."

"Tell me how this was fun!?" Gabriella exclaimed, throwing her own 20 bags next to Sharpay's, before taking a seat in her blue chair, "My feet are killing me!"

"See?" Sharpay said, "That means we've been productive with our plan, had fun because we went shopping _and _been doing exercise. See, shopping _is_ healthy!"

"Fine, you win, I'm too tired to argue." Gabriella whined, closing her eyes for a second. But then she opened them again and turned to look at Sharpay, "What now? You've bought me a whole new wardrobe, using all your many gazillion dollars. What's next? What do you have planned now, Sharpay? I'm sure you're not done yet!"

"You're quite right about that." Sharpay smiled, making her way towards Gabriella's makeup table. Not that there was much makeup on it. She turned to look at Gabriella, "You really need to learn to do a fine makeup. To do it correctly."

"Oh…" Gabriella said, "But I don't really wear makeup that much, it isn't healthy for your skin with all that foundation."

"Gabriella!" Sharpay cut her off, placing a calming hand on her shoulder, "If you wear makeup, people wont able to tell if your skin is unhealthy, okay? Makeup is a _must_! Woman has to wear it! … Ryan loves makeup." She then added, turning to look into Gabriella's mirror.

"Really?" Gabriella asked.

"He always tells me I'm beautiful." Sharpay said, looking at her through the mirror, "And I wear makeup all the time."

"Fine," Gabriella said, "How am I gonna learn this?"

"I should teach you." Sharpay said, a huge smile on her lips, "But if I'm gonna do your makeup, you wont be able to watch what I do, so we should get like a doll… Or, I know!" she got a mean look in her eyes, "A subject." She paused, "Do you know anyone who would let us do this?"

Gabriella looked thoughtful for awhile, but then she got a mean thought into her head too, "Oh yeah…"

"Who?"

"Troy."

* * *

_Okay, so next chapter should be exciting, you can probably already guess what's gonna happen, right? We hope you liked this, we'll be back as soon as possible. Next chapter of No Sleep Tonight is almost done, same goes for Libby Lee. Please remember to leave us a review!_

_**Toodles**__, MelleG and Stessa._

_Peace out!_


	3. Chapter 2

_Hi, thanks for the reviews, we love them._

_**Disclaimer; **We don't own HSM._

* * *

**Popular!**

**Chapter 2.**

"Please, Troy?"

"NO!"

"Please, I really need your help!"

"No, I said no!"

"C'mon, I thought you were my friend!"

"No!"

"Please!?"

"No, Gabriella!" Troy said, making his point clear, "I'm not gonna let Sharpay use me as her little doll! I have too much proud to do that! I'm a guy, okay, I don't want to have makeup on!"

"But you promised to help me too!" Gabriella whined, hitting him lightly on the chest, "You promised to support me all the way with this Popular-project! You can't back out of it now, Troy! You promised! And you'll get to spend some time with Sharpay too!"

"How's that supposed to convince me?" Troy questioned, shooting her a weird look, "Like, spending time with the Ice Princess is fun!?"

"Come on, Troy…" Gabriella giggled, but she still had a begging look in her eyes, and a teasing grin on her face, "I know you like her…"

Troy sighed and looked at Gabriella's begging face, he couldn't admit to her that she was kinda right. The only thing he could do was say yes, and help her, "Alright…" he said, whispering, "But no one will_ ever _know about this, okay?"

"Of course not," Gabriella quickly said, smiling all over her face, "I love you, Troy! And thanks!"

--

_Don't be offended by my frank analysis  
Think of it as personality dialysis  
Now that I've chosen to be come a pal, a  
Sister and adviser  
There's nobody wiser  
Not when it comes to popular -  
I know about popular_

--

"I still don't really know, Sharpay." Gabriella said, looking at her new friend, "Troy didn't really seem to want to do this, he seemed really mad that I forced him. Maybe we're taking it too far. Maybe I don't need makeup?"

"Don't be offended by this, Gabby." Sharpay said, quickly shooting her a smile, "But you do. Real bad. You have so many great features, but also some that would be much better covered with a bit of makeup."

"Oh; that's so mean! How can you say that!?" Gabriella shrieked.

"I told you not to be offended!" Sharpay snapped, "I'm here to help. Think of me as the sister you never had. All I do is for you. And I know about this stuff, okay? I am popular, so by getting help from me, you'll become popular too!"

"I guess so…" Gabriella said, "Troy will be here in a minute."

"Cool, I've got everything ready too, so that's tight." Sharpay smiled, just as the door bell rang. She bounced downstairs and opened it to reveal Troy, "Come in, Troysie, we need you!" she giggled, pulling him inside.

They went upstairs together, Troy checking out Sharpay's house. He was kinda taken aback by her room, which was all pink, and then she pushed him down on a chair in front of a mirror, and looked at Gabriella.

"Okay, Gabs, I'm gonna tell you exactly what I do, and you're gonna listen closely." She said, taking out some foundation to cover marks or zits or whatever might occur on teenage skin, "After this, we'll remove it all, and let you do Troy. Then you can go home and practise on yourself later."

"Okay." Gabriella smiled, taking a seat next to Troy, to watch Sharpay's every move. Troy was pretty stiff and uncomfortable, as Sharpay fixed him a beautiful makeup.

"So, I guess your colours are green or blue." Sharpay giggled, "I'll just give you a slight blush too, and then end with your mascara. Some other time, I'll do the smoky thing, that's really cool on a lot of people, I don't know about you, though, Gabby, but we'll see."

She finished Troy's makeup, and held up a mirror for him to see, and he cringed. He had long eyelashes now, real girly, just like Sharpay always had them. And then he had a pink blush along with some green stuff on his eyes, he didn't even know what it was called!

"You're pretty…" Gabriella giggled, trying hard not to laugh, "Oh please Troy, let me take one picture of you!"

"No!" Troy said, shaking his head, "No pictures! No one will ever know about this, you promised, Gabby!"

"Of course." Gabriella smiled, "But it looks good on you."

Both her and Sharpay broke into fits of giggles, as Troy shook his head, and shot them a death glare. Sharpay then got it together, and removed his makeup, letting Gabriella give it a try. She wasn't very good at it, but that was the whole point of her having this lesson to begin with. She held up the mirror too, letting Troy see himself.

"I looked better before, I'll give you that, Sharpay." He mumbled.

Gabriella hit him across the head, and laughed, "I'm trying!"

"Cool, just not hard enough." He replied.

"Shut up, Troy!" Sharpay said, "You'll get better Gabby, I know it!"

Gabriella was about to answer, when her cell started going off. She quickly picked it up, seeing her mom's name flash across the screen. "Hi mom!" she paused, "Yeah, I'll be right there. Give me five minutes, okay? Yup, bye!" she hung up and looked at them, "I've got to go. You'll help him get that stuff off, right Sharpay?"

Sharpay looked at Troy, "Of course… anything for you Gabby."

"'Kay, I'll see ya' tomorrow!" Gabriella smiled, heading for the door, "Bye!"

Troy turned to Sharpay, a teasing smile playing on his lips, "Help, please?"

Sharpay giggled and looked for her makeup remover.

--

"There you go. It is gone." Sharpay informed Troy. "But you look pretty good with make-up, you know that?"

"Yeah, I look good all the time." Troy said. Sharpay rolled her eyes. "What? You don't think I do?"

"Do I have to answer that?" Sharpay giggled. Troy looked evil at her but then he smiled.

"Thanks for letting me use you." Sharpay said, after a while with silence.

"You are welcome. But DON'T you tell anybody. I only did this because of Gabriella."

"Admit it you also came here to see gorgeous me." Sharpay said and sent Troy a big flirting smile.

"You are really having an ego trip." Troy chuckled.

"Yeah, so what? You like it!" Sharpay was only a few inches from Troy's face. He could smell her perfume. It was fresh. Troy almost leaned in but Sharpay moved away from him. She sent him a smile and put the stuff in its right place. Troy looked down. Why did she have that affection on him?

She turned around to face him. "Do you want to stay or do you have somewhere to go?"

"Well, if I stay, what do you want to do?" Troy flirted with her.

"Hmm...I don't know. Whatever you want to." Sharpay flirted back. She took a seat on his lap and put her arms around his neck. She looked into his ocean blue eyes and flirting smile playing on her lips. Troy put his hands on her hips.

"Uh, there is a lot we could do." Troy said and added: "in bed" in his mind. Troy looked at her tempting lips. Sharpay slowly started to lean in.

The door opened and Ryan came into her room. Sharpay quickly got away from Troy. "Ryan, what do you want?" she snapped. Troy looked at Sharpay. Two seconds more and they had kissed.

Ryan looked at them both. What were they doing? And what was Troy even doing in their house? "Ehm, I just wanted to ask if we should rent a movie, but I see you are busy doing something else." Ryan said and was already on his way out again.

"Well, why don't we do that? Troy you want to do that too?" Sharpay said, feeling a bit uncomfortable. She looked at Troy. Mostly at his lips. Why did Ryan have to come in there? She had almost kissed the guy she had had a crush on for months. She had never told him that she liked him, she didn't know how to do it.

"Sure that sounds good." Troy was a bit shaky in his voice, but he got a smile on his lips anyway.

"Ryan, why don't you rent a movie and get us a pizza? I am really hungry." Sharpay asked. Ryan nodded and left her room. Sharpay looked back at Troy. She felt stupid; she didn't know what to do with herself. How to break the silence.

"Uhm, well...so?" Troy started, but didn't know what to say.

"Yeah..." Sharpay just said. They looked at each other. "Maybe we just should..."

"Yeah.." Troy rose from the chair. Sharpay took his hand and lead him down to the kitchen. They found some plates and what else they need for the pizza. Sharpay found some candy. They both went into the living room. None of them spoke a word.

"Okay..." they both started.

"You go first." Sharpay said, "I didn't have anything to say, I just didn't like the silence."

"Me neither." Troy chuckled.

"So, am I right when I say that Gabriella really could use some make-up?" Sharpay tried to think of something they could talk about. That was the first that popped into her mind.

"Yeah, sometimes she really could use something. But don't tell her I said that." Troy admitted.

"I promise I won't. It will be our little secret. God, I am hungry." Sharpay exclaimed.

"Me too." Troy smiled to her.

* * *

_There you go. Another finished chapter from us. Hope you like it, but please review us? Will you? Next chapter of Libby Lee is already half done too, but we haven't started No Sleep Tonight yet. We will get on it though. Next chapter of this should be exciting too._

_**Toodles,** Stessa and Noukka_

_Peace out!_


	4. Chapter 3

_Hey, once again, we're grateful for the reviews we get. This chapter is kinda short, but if we make it longer, we wont stick to the story-line, and that can't happen! And look, we updated fast!_

_**Disclaimer; **We don't own HSM or the song Popular._

* * *

**Popular!**

**Chapter 3.**

--

_Popular!  
You're gonna be popular!  
I'll teach you the proper ploys  
When you talk to boys  
Little ways to flirt and flounce_

--

"So, Gabby…" Sharpay said, looking at Gabriella, as she approached her by her locker, "I see you've been doing good with your makeup. And you're wearing pink!"

"Yeah…" Gabriella said, fiddling with her skirt, "Is it okay?"

"Very." Sharpay said, "Now, I have an idea for your next lesson."

"Okay, what did you have in mind?"

"Flirting." Sharpay said, biting her lip, "You see… Ryan loves to flirt. He can flirt with a bunch of girls, and he's good at it, so if you want him to notice you, you have to flirt with him. And possibly other guys to make him jealous."

"Just use other guys like that?" Gabriella questioned, "I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that."

"Gabriella, you need to relax a bit!" Sharpay said, "Okay, do you have any idea as to how you catch a guy's attention? We'll do that first, and move on to flirting later…"

"No." Gabriella said, shaking her head.

Sharpay got an evil smirk on her face, as she saw Troy coming into the hall, and stopping by his locker, "Then I'll just have to show you, wont I?" she waved bye to Gabriella and made her way towards Troy's swaying her hips seductively from side to side.

She brushed pass him, making sure to look extremely cute and sexy, letting her long legs catch his attention. She knew what looked good on herself, and the parts which looked good, were the parts she should show off.

As she was pass him, she could feel his eyes burning into her back, or maybe rather her butt. She turned around again, and waved flirtingly at him, as she made her way towards Gabriella again.

Gabriella just watched, her jaw hanging open, "God!" she exclaimed, "You didn't even say a word, Sharpay!"

"No," Sharpay simply said, "And that's because I know how to catch a guy's attention. I can even do that to guys who has a girlfriend, wanna see?"

"No, Sharpay, I don't really think tha-" she was cut off, because Sharpay had quickly made her way towards Chad, who was chatting with Zeke and Jason.

She pulled her top down a little, making sure her cleavage was clearly visible, before flapping her hair onto her back, and hitching her skirt up a little higher. Then she put a flirty look back on her face, and made her towards the three boys, smiling sweetly.

As she passed them, she knew that at least one of them was looking, but she wasn't quite sure it was Chad. But she made her way back to Gabriella not looking at them.

"Did it work?"

"He was checking you out." Gabriella said, "But Taylor doesn't look too happy."

"Whoops." Sharpay said, shrugging her shoulders.

"You're gonna have to apologise later." Gabriella said, shooting her an evil glare.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Sharpay mumbled, just as Ryan was standing by his locker, fixing out his books, "Now…" she told her, "It's your turn. Try to catch his attention. No talking! …just walking."

"I'm not sure I can do that…" Gabriella begun.

Sharpay just shook her head, "We wont know if you can, until you try." She nudged her, and gave her a push down the hall, "Go!"

Gabriella pulled her white tube top a little down and started to move her hips seductively from side to side. She smiled her cute smile, getting closer to Ryan. He was still looking in a book, not even seeing her coming.

Gabriella was just a few feet from him when she fell. A bag pack was in her way. Her feet were tangled into one of its strophes, which made her fall.

"Aaaw!" She exclaimed, really high. Sharpay ran over to her, catching everybody's attention by her boobs jumping up and down because of her running. Gabriella looked after Ryan, but he was gone. "See, Sharpay I told you I couldn't! I am going to get such a big bruise. Sharpay, how can you walk in these shoes?"

"You'll get used to it. Raise, you don't wanna lie there all day. Come on." Sharpay said and gave her a hand. Gabriella grabbed it and got up. "We have to work on that. Come on, I know where we can try again. Without people staring at you." Gabriella followed Sharpay into the auditorium and up on the stage.

"Now, try on me."

--

"You're getting better, girl!" Sharpay exclaimed, jumping up and down in her high heels, "Wonderful, Gabby!"

"You really think I'm getting better?" Gabriella asked, as she took a seat by the end of the stage. She flipped her legs out, so they were dangling from there.

Sharpay took a seat next to her, opening her bag pack up. She took out two bottles of water and an apple. She looked at Gabriella, "You want an apple too?"

"Do you have an orange?" Gabriella asked.

"Sure." Sharpay smile, handing her one, "I figured we could sit here until the bell rings. Just eat and talk."

"Cool," Gabriella said, "So, what do you wanna talk about?"

"I have a question, actually…" Sharpay said, lying back on the stage, looking at the ceiling, "Why do you like Ryan? I mean… You don't speak that much to each other, and he isn't really one of the hottest most popular guys in school. Not like… Troy or Chad."

"Well…" Gabriella said, lying back too, "I like him because he's different. I like the way he dresses, he doesn't look like a slob. And really, the school didn't take notice to me after Troy and I didn't happen. But I don't care. Popular guys like Troy should have popular girls like you."

Sharpay let out a giggle, "You really think so?"

"Are you kidding me!?" Gabriella exclaimed, "You and Troy would be like… the perfect couple!"

"Ha, nah…" Sharpay said, "I don't really think so. We're way too different."

"That's what you say." Gabriella smiled, "People think you're so mean, Sharpay, but when they get to know you, you're not. You're helping me with all this. That's sweat."

"Well… I like you, Gabriella." Sharpay said, "And if you can make Ryan happy, which I believe you can after some advice from me, then I'll have to be around you more. And you're sweet too."

Gabriella let out a giggle, "You just scares me sometimes. You come off a little strong."

"Well, that's me…" Sharpay said, arching her eyebrows together, "If you want to be friends with me, you gotta take the whole package."

"Don't worry," Gabriella said, "I intend to take the package."

* * *

_Again, sorry about the short chapter. The next one should hopefully be longer. _

_**Toodles, **__Stessa and Noukka. _

_Peace out!_


	5. Chapter 4

_Hi, once again, the reviews are wonderful )_

_**Disclaimer; **We don't own the wonderful movie High School Musical. Disney does that. _

* * *

**Popular!**

**Chapter 4.**

--

_And though you protest  
Your disinterest  
I know clandestinely  
You're gonna grin and bear it  
Your new found popularity_

--

"Gabriella!" Sharpay exclaimed, as she stopped by Gabriella's locker, where Gabriella was getting her books for their second period. She'd kinda been avoiding her all day, and Sharpay wanted to know why. She hated when people gave her the silent treatment instead of just telling her what was wrong!

"Oh…" Gabriella said, looking slightly frightened, "Hi Sharpay."

"What's going on?" Sharpay asked, crossing her arms across her chest while she annoyingly tapped her gold designer heels against the hard floor, making a tap-tap noise.

"What do you mean?" Gabriella questioned, trying to play if off smooth. Unfortunately, she wasn't such a great actress as Sharpay was. Well, she had already proved that by screwing up the Winter Musical, hadn't she?

Sharpay rolled her eyes, an angry look on her face, "Don't pull that shit with me, Gabriella!" she exclaimed, clutching her purse tight, "You've been avoiding me all day and I want to know why since I'm actually trying to help you!"

"Sharpay…" Gabriella said, closing her locker with a smack, "I don't think we should do this anymore."

"And why not?" Sharpay asked, getting a ´duh´-look on her face, which told her that she thought Gabriella was out of her mind, for blowing this off. Who wouldn't want to become popular?_ Duh_, it was the name of the fic they were both in, so Gabriella was gonna do this, whether she liked it or not! Otherwise the plot wouldn't stick!

"It doesn't feel right." Gabriella complained, looking the blonde devil in the eyes, "I'm changing myself too much. If Ryan doesn't like me the way I am, then he's not a really good boyfriend. I shouldn't waste my time on him."

"Gabriella, sweet, adorable, cute Gabriella," Sharpay mumbled, placing a comforting hand on the brunette's shoulder, "Ryan probably likes you the way you are. And you're not changing yourself. You're just making a few improvements to yourself. Think of it that way, and so it wont hurt you like this."

Gabriella wrinkled her nose in an extremely cute way, and turned to look at Sharpay, a little insecure, "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes." Sharpay said, "And I know it may hurt right now. The road to beauty and popularity. But you're gonna love it in the end. I know it."

"Okay," Gabriella nodded, biting her lip, "Let's continue then."

"Goodie!" Sharpay exclaimed, excitingly jumping into the air, while she was clapping her hands. Then she got serious, and took Gabriella's hand, dragging her towards the cafeteria, where probably the entire school was seated, eating something or talking, "Next things is; flirting."

"Didn't I flirt yesterday?"

"No," Sharpay shook her head, "You were getting his attention. But that didn't go very well. We'll work on flirting now. It's really easy. Wanna try?"

"No," Gabriella said, taking a seat by a table, where they had a good view of the table were Ryan was sitting along with Troy, Kelsi, Chad and Taylor, "Why don't you show me first?" she suggested, "It worked _so_ well yesterday."

"Was that sarcastic!?" Sharpay said, her voice serious, but by the scared look Gabriella got on her face, she quickly continued, "I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" She giggled slightly, "But I'll show you. Just watch, okay?"

"Okay." Gabriella confirmed, as Sharpay stood up from her seat.

_--_

_Popular!  
You're gonna be popular!  
I'll teach you the proper ploys  
When you talk to boys  
Little ways to flirt and flounce  
I'll show you what shoes to wear  
How to fix your hair  
Everything that really counts_

_--_

"First, make sure your hair is nice, and you don't have any mascara goofs in the corner of your eyes." Gabriella said, taking out her compact mirror, "That can _so_ turn off a guy!"

"Fine," Gabriella said.

"Goodie then." Sharpay said, throwing her mirror at the table, before making her way towards the table where they were all sitting. Troy was once again her target. After all, he'd let her do makeup on him, so she figured he knew what this was all about. She slandered towards him, her hips shipping from side to side, just the way she'd taught Gabriella to catch a guy's attention.

When she reached their table, she ran her finger down Troy's arm and took a seat beside him, whilst shooting him a cute smile, "Hi Troy!" she giggled, flipping her hair back into her back.

"Hey…" Troy said, immediately getting a smile on his face too, by the sight of the delicious blonde. He gave her a quick look over, noticing that she was looking extremely good today. Well, didn't she always? She was wearing a white dress, which matched her tan really good. And practically all her accessories were gold, including her three inch heels. "What's up?"

"Oh…" Sharpay giggled, flickering her eyelashes, "I was just… I _missed_ you." she pouted her lips at him.

"Really?" Troy said, "I missed you too."

"Oh, you're so sweet!" Sharpay said, placing a hand on his bare arm, sending a chill through his body, "Wow, you have very good abs. Have you been working out?"

"Of course," Troy said, and he didn't even realize that they were sounding like something out of a really terrible movie, while their friends were watching, their mouths hanging open. None of them knew it was for Gabriella's lessons or whatever, so they thought they were both seriously flirting with each other. Well, maybe they were… "You like?"

"So much!" Sharpay said, once again giggling like mad, "But what do you think about my dress? It's not too revealing, is it?"

"No!" Troy quickly exclaimed, "No," he cleared his throat by the look Ryan gave him, "Not from where I'm standing."

"Oh good!" she said, standing up from her seat, "I'll talk to you later, Troy! Toodles!" she gave him a little funny wave, and slandered towards Gabriella again, sure that Troy's eyes were on her back. She took a deep breath and sat down beside her friend, "He watched me leave, didn't he?"

"Totally." Gabriella said, sounding amazed, "How do you do this?"

"It's practise." Sharpay said, "And you're gonna have to try too. Your turn now, on Ryan."

"I'm not sure I'm ready for that." Gabriella said.

"Gabriella Anne Montez!" Sharpay exclaimed, slamming her fist into the table, "Get your cute little butt over there! I wont listen to your whining for one more second!"

"Okay, okay, okay!" Gabriella said, quickly standing up from her seat, "I'll go now, take a chill pill, Sharpay!"

Sharpay shot her a look, "Ok, Gabby, I know you're really worked up right now, but don't ever, _ever_… use that phrase again, 'kay?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes and made her way towards the other table, trying to walk like yesterday. This time it went better, because there were no bags to fall in. She made it there safely, and sat down by Ryan, "accidentally" touching his arm. "Hi Ry…" she said, trying to make her voice all flirty the way Sharpay had. She discovered however, that that didn't exactly work on her the way it did on Sharpay. Sharpay ended up sounding cute, with a sexy purr in her voice, while Gabriella herself ended up sounding like a stalker who just found its prey.

"Hey Gabriella." Ryan said, shooting her a quick, weird look. And then he turned back to his bagel and juice, not giving her further acknowledgement.

Gabriella looked at him for awhile, wondering what her next move should be. She glanced at Sharpay, who was waving her arms like crazy, urging her to go on. She took a deep breath and turned to Ryan again, "…what're you doing?"

"Eating." He just replied, taking another bite of his bagel.

"Does it taste good?" Gabriella asked, not even realizing how stupid she was sounding.

"Uhm," Ryan said, turning to her, with crumbles around his mouth. But he looked _so_ cute, "…I guess so."

"Okay," Gabriella said, already halfway off her chair, "Good for you, bye!" she quickly turned around and left the table, forgetting to sway her hips seductively on the way. She just wanted to get the hell away from there! She shot into the seat next to Sharpay, burying her head in her hands on the table, "Oh God, oh God, oh God…" she whispered, "That went so bad!"

"Nooo…" Sharpay said, not really believing it could be _that_ horrible.

"I asked him if his food tasted good!" Gabriella said, looking up at her, "I'm so pathetic it's lame! Please Sharpay, I really need your help…"

"Okay, I can see that's bad." Sharpay said, "Well Gabby, all I can say is just… practise!"

--

"So," Troy said, shooting himself into a comfortable chair in Gabriella's living room, "How's your Popular-project coming along? Anything new! What have Sharpay been forcing you to do lately?"

Gabriella shot him a weird look, wondering how he could ask that. He'd just helped Sharpay show her how to flirt today. He'd been really good, she had almost believed it was flirting for real. She froze, as she was about to reply… maybe it wasn't just for fun, maybe he meant it, "We were… flirting today." Gabriella said, unsure of if she should tell him Sharpay was only using him.

"Oh," Troy said, "So what you did on Ryan was to practise how to flirt?"

"Yes."

"Okay, you need more practise." Troy confirmed, nodding his head slightly.

Gabriella giggled and slapped his arm, "That's what Sharpay told me too!"

"It's true!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Gabriella said, "But she did a good job teaching me, though. She's an amazing tutor."

"What did she do?" Troy asked, arching his eyebrows together.

"I …" Gabriella looked at him, and she knew how much he actually liked Sharpay. She couldn't burst his happy bubble like that, could she? "I can't tell…"

"Okay," Troy said, "I doesn't matter anyway, nothing matters because Sharpay came up to me during lunch today! You know I have this enormous crush on her, right? Well I'm thinking that maybe she likes me too. It sounded like it the way she spoke to me."

"Oh Troy…" Gabriella said, lowering her head slightly, "I… I'm sorry to tell you this, but.. you need to know."

"What?"

"Sharpay was just… using you to show me how to flirt." Gabriella admitted, her eyes meeting his blue ones, who immediately got a sad look in them, "She had to do it with someone, and I guess she thought you knew because you helped the other day…"

"Oh…" Troy said, and Gabriella felt bad in a second. It looked like that really hurt him, "Well… I guess I'll just.. go home then?"

"Troy!" Gabriella said, standing up to stop him from leaving, "Maybe Sharpay does like you. You never know with her, she's a mystery. You'll just.. have to talk to her! Tell her how you feel or something instead of all this secrecy!"

"I don't know…" Troy said, "Sharpay is different, you can't just tell her you like her." he shook his head and went for the door, turning to look at her one last time, "I was really happy today. That may sound gay, but whatever, I wore makeup too." He sighed, "I really thought she liked me." and with those words he went out the door, closing it behind him.

Gabriella just looked after him, feeling his pain. After all, he wasn't the only one who had a huge crush on someone who apparently wasn't crushing back.

* * *

_Great, so yeah. Luckily enough this chapter got longer than the last. We hope you liked this chapter too. So, now I (Stessa) need you guys to do a huge favour for me, kay? You all need to tell Noukka in a review that she should start writing on our stories. I feel bad for doing it all, but if I have to wait for her, then it takes ages! So please tell her to move her lazy butt and help me. After all, we do have three joint fics, right? Anyway,_

_**Toodles, **__Noukka and Stessa. _

_Peace out!_


	6. Chapter 5

_Hey! Thanks for all the reviews. Enjoy the story. And your reviews did actually help, (Stessa here) because Noukka finally got her act together and wrote some on this story! She had a little more than two pages written when she send this to me, but with my wonderful editing and adding, we got it up to full three pages! So from now on, expect to have some Noukka writing! Which is also cool, because otherwise I might as well have posted this myself ;o Anyway, on to the story, Noukka wrote the first part! And one last thing,__jemima-the-puddleduck__ noticed that Sharpay says "Goodie" a lot, well that's me, I say that all the time, and when I write Sharpay it just comes out of me, I'm glad you think it suits her! And I'm also glad that all of you liked the whole part "…__Who wouldn't want to become popular? Duh, it was the name of the fic they were both in, so Gabriella was gonna do this, whether she liked it or not!..." because I was a bit insecure of putting it in there! Well, that's my sense of humor anyway! I had been thinking about using it in Libby Lee actually, because that fic is already crazy, but then it fitted this moment. Maybe I'll use it in Libby Lee too, but in a slightly different way, I've had it on my mind for awhile… So, seriously, I'll stop rambling now, and let you guys read, before you chop my head off!_

_**Disclaimer: **We don't own High School Musical, and "Popular"!_

* * *

**Popular!**

**Chapter 5.**

**--**

_La la la la  
We're gonna make  
You popular_

--

"Hey Gabby." Sharpay greeted her. Gabriella spun around and gave Sharpay a hug. "Wow, you are really learning to do your make-up. It looks good." She gave her another hug.

"Thanks, well, I can only thank you for it… and Troy." Gabriella said, starting to giggle. Sharpay joined her. "Too bad we couldn't take a picture of him."

"Yeah, but it was still fun." Sharpay spoke.

"By the way what is my next lesson?" Gabriella asked, curious. Sharpay smiled evil, rubbing her hands together.

"Well, we are not done with flirting. It didn't go that well yesterday." She said.

"Oh, I really hoped I didn't have to do that anymore. You saw how I suck at it. Are you sure I have to try again?" Gabriella said, begging her not to.

"Yes, practice makes perfect. Gabby, if you want Ryan you have to learn how to flirt. He is almost as good as I am to it. Gabriella, pull yourself together and get over it. You have to try again." Sharpay said, almost yelling at the poor girl.

"Okay, okay, okay. Sharpay calm down. There is no need of yelling!" Gabriella assured her.

Sharpay smiled to her: "Do you want me to show you again?"

"Yeah, that would be nice." Gabriella replied.

"Okay, I am gonna try on Troy, he is right over there." Sharpay told Gabriella and pointed at Troy, who was a few feet away from them. Gabriella just nodded and Sharpay walked to her prey, swinging her hips seductively from side to side.

"Hi Troy…" Sharpay started, smiling sexy at him.

"Hey Sharpay," he said and walked away. He might as well had thrown his lunch at her, because the comment (or not comment, depending how want to look at it) really hurt her. She stared after him, trying to figure out _why_ he had left.

Gabriella walked across the hall, approaching her friend, "Why did he go?" she asked, even though she knew it. It was because of their little talk last night. It was her fault that Troy was angry with Sharpay right now. That was so not good. She felt guilty.

"I don't know. I just said _hi_." Sharpay said, sounding a little hurt, even though she was trying not to show it.

The warning bell went off.

"We better get to class." Gabriella said and pulled Sharpay after her. "You can show me on somebody else during break."

--

Sharpay and Gabriella walked into the cafeteria. "Okay, I am ready to show you now…" Sharpay said, "Watch and learn" she let out a smile, as she walked towards Chad who stood by the table where Troy and Taylor were sitting. She was swinging her hips seductively, once again, knowing how it worked on guys.

"Hi Chad…" Sharpay flirted, smiling to him.

"Hey Shar." Chad said, smiling back.

"So what have you been up too lately?" Sharpay asked him in a sexy tone.

Troy looked at her. _Why_ _is she flirting with him? He has a girlfriend!_ Troy thought to himself. He looked at Taylor. She was mad, he could tell. Definitely mad. Oh no, was she gonna yell now? Taylor could yell like a mad woman when she wanted to!

"Basketball mostly." Chad answered, flirting back, slightly.

"I can see that…" Sharpay said, gently touching his arm. "Maybe you could teach me some day?"

Taylor stood up, really mad. How dare he flirt away with other girls when he had her? And when she was right in front of them? So yeah, if he goofed off at some lame party, flirting with a girl, it was okay, but not when she was standing right there!

Troy glared evilly at Sharpay. How come he got jealous, when she just was using him? He wasn't supposed to be feeling like this. She was Sharpay Evans, the Ice Princess… But he was jealous! Urgh, stupid crush!

"Yeah, that could be cool," Chad said, not really getting how many people he was pissing off right now. He couldn't see the big deal. Sharpay flirted with almost every guy, so he believed this was a normal conversation.

"Great, well, I'll see you around…" Sharpay said and gave him a little kiss on the check. She walked back to Gabriella and took a seat. Chad was still looking at her, so she sent him a smile, giggling like mad.

Taylor pulled Chad by the arm, into the hallway, where she started yelling at him. She thought she was being quiet, but nah… that woman had a voice like no other.

--

_Whenever I see someone  
Less fortunate than I  
(And let's face it - who isn't  
Less fortunate than I?)_

--

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to flirt with Chad. I think Taylor is pretty mad at you right now." Gabriella said when Chad and Taylor had gone.

"Yeah, maybe I should have tried on Zeke or Jason. But I can change that. I'll apologize to her later. Can I explain to her why I did it?" Sharpay asked. Maybe Gabriella didn't want Taylor to know that she was helping her. For some weird reason, maybe?

"Of course. Don't tell her I want to become popular, just that you were trying to teach me how to flirt, because I have a crush on Ryan. Okay?" Gabriella explained, her eyes big.

"_Fine_." Sharpay agreed, "Demanding much of me, huh?"

They sat in silence for a while, just digging their food. Gabriella was having Mac 'n' Cheese, but she wasn't very hungry. She felt bad for Taylor right now, but more for Chad, though. He was the one being yelled at. Sharpay didn't feel guilty, she knew everything would work out, it always did. She was just eating her salmon salad, avoiding the salmon.

"Hey, don't think you are avoiding this!" Sharpay suddenly burst out, "You have to try again. Try on Zeke."

"Okay…But what can I say to him?" Gabriella asked, insecure. "I'm not going to talk about food again! That was just too embarrassing! _So_ not gonna happen!"

"Okay, okay, talk about…" Sharpay seemed to think about it, twisting her hair around her index finger, while biting her lip, "…basketball?" Sharpay suggested.

"Great, I'll try…" Gabriella said and stood up to approach the jock table. She shipped her hips from side to side, just like she always saw Sharpay do, knowing that it had to catch at least _one_ guy's attention.

"Hi Zeke…" Gabriella smiled, trying to pull it off in a sexy voice. She hope it worked.

"Oh, hey Gabby. What's up?" Zeke said and smiled to her.

Okay, she could do this. It wasn't that hard, was it? It was just Zeke. _Okay, Gabriella, just go ahead and flirt with him!,_ she reminded herself, "Not much, how about you?" Gabriella answered. "How is it going with basketball?"

"It is great. We played yesterday, two teams, going for a match. My team beat Troy's." Zeke told her.

"Oh, that is so cool, Zeke." She said, touching his arm. "So, when is the next game?"

"Ehm, let me see. Three weeks." Zeke counted, using his fingers to get it properly. So okay, jocks weren't the smartest people in the world. They could still be very cute, though.

"Great, maybe I'll watch it." Gabriella replied. She sent him a smile, and turned to leave, "Well, I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, be sure to." Zeke smiled back and watched Gabriella go back to another table, where Sharpay was sitting, eating her lunch. She sat down next to the blonde, a huge smile on both their faces.

"Not that bad." Sharpay admitted, padding her hand, "You're getting better, Gabs." She continued, and they continued to eat their food.

--

Sharpay stood by Taylor's locker when the bell rang. She was going to apologize for flirting with her boyfriend. She knew it was stupid that she had done it to him, but she couldn't help it. It was funny that she could get away flirting with a boy who had a girlfriend. But oh, she was Sharpay Evans, she could get away with everything. She smiled at herself. She was simply good. No, she was _great_. She loved her life.

"What are you doing here, bitch?" Taylor said.

Sharpay hadn't even seen her coming, so she was kinda taken aback, "I wanted to apologize for flirting with your boyfriend." She then explained, hoping Taylor would accept her apology. For once, she actually meant it.

"Oh, well why did you even do it? Do you like to hurt other people's feelings?" Taylor was getting mad again. Well, she could get worked up over nothing, so_ that _one didn't come as such a surprise.

"Sorry, I was showing Gabriella how to flirt. She has this thing for my brother and asked me for my help." Sharpay told her. "And no I _don't _like to hurt other people's feelings. Don't think I do, I'm actually quite nice."

"She likes your brother?" Taylor smiled, aching her eyebrow. Thinking about it, they would actually make a pretty cute couple, "So, was she trying to _flirt_ with him yesterday during break?" Taylor questioned, hoping she was wrong. If _that _was flirting, then Gabriella _really _needed help. That was almost as to watch Titanic sink, it was too horrible.

"Yeah, she was. You can see why she needs practice, right? " Sharpay asked her, nodding her head up and down, while trying not to giggle.

Taylor started to giggle, though, "Okay, well you are forgiven then. I just have a dork for a boyfriend, who thinks you are hot." Taylor said "It's not like he can't think that, it's totally okay, but he could at least keep it to a minimum when I'm in front of him!"

"Oh, that's bad." Sharpay said, "Do you want me to pound on him for ya'?"

Taylor laughed, "It's okay, Sharpay, I do that fine on my own."

"Yeah, but anyway, thanks for understanding. I won't use your boyfriend again, I promise." Sharpay told her, having a really sincere look on her face. She really did care about Taylor, though they weren't the best of friends. They had something.

"It's okay. But I gotta go, have a meeting to catch. See you around, Pay!" Taylor gave her a bear hug and rushed away, meeting the Scholastic Decathlon team.

Sharpay smiled to herself, thinking how great her life was. And then she skipped out of the school, humming to herself: "_And though you protest, Your disinterest, I know clandestinely, You're gonna grin and bear it, Your new found popularity, La la la la, You'll be popular -, Just not as quite as popular, As meeeeeeeeeee!"_

* * *

_There you go. Now, I (Noukka) just have to tell, I wrote almost it all. See, I am not lazy. ;) Oh yes she is (Stessa here now) and she's a bit of a bragger too ;p Ah, you know I'm kidding honey, 'cause I love you! She did actually write most of this chapter, but that's fair, since I wrote like… the last gazillion updates we did! ;p I just edited a little, and added some of my jokes too, (you know I can't live without them, right?) trying to lighten it up a little. I'm good at that, I always crack something, and then Michelle can't even keep herself from laughing. And then I have to say, No Sleep Tonight is almost finished (my part anyway, talk to Noukka about hers) and I'm waiting for Libby Lee to be send to my com. But it's cool, 'cause you got an update now, didn't you? Anyway, we hope you liked this. Please leave us a review? They do mean the world to us (we know you think we're exaggerating, but we're not, they MEAN the world, get it!?). _

_**Toodles,**__ Stessa and Noukka_

_Peace out!_


	7. Chapter 6

_Hi, thank you very much for the reviews. We appreciate them a lot. _

_**Disclaimer; **We don't own HSM og the song "Popular"._

* * *

**Popular!**

**Chapter 6.**

--

_To be popular  
I'll help you be popular!  
You'll hang with the right cohorts  
You'll be good at sports  
Know the slang you've got to know  
So let's start  
'Cause you've got an awfully long way to go:_

--

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Sharpay?" Gabriella questioned, looking at the outfit Sharpay had made her put on, "I'm not very coordinated, I'll just fall on my butt and not hit the ball. I'm gonna look like an idiot. What does this have to do with being popular anyway?"

"It has to do with…" Sharpay said, trailing off a bit, "You're only known for you work on the Scholastic Decathlon team, and that's not very loved on the school. That and… screwing up our musical. Therefore, you need to have something else to be known for. And since Ryan and I play this game about three or four times a week, I figured you might want to do too."

"But it's tennis, Sharpay." Gabriella said, holding out her racquet, "This'll never do. I'm not good at this!"

"But you will be!" Sharpay smiled, finally finishing braiding her hair, "This is one of the best tennis clubs in the country. If you want to go somewhere, it's a good place to start, whether it's tennis you want to do or not. A lot of all the very rich people in Albuquerque plays here from time to time. I know some pretty good people. The _right_ people."

"Fine," Gabriella said, giving in to Sharpay's pesters, simply because she had no chance of winning this argument, "You're gonna go easy on me though, right?"

"Of course," Sharpay said, flashing her a big smile. She then grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the changing room, and towards the tennis field. She signed Gabriella in as her guest, and gave her one of the two racquets she'd brought with her, "It's easy," she begun, "I'll teach you for awhile, and then we'll try and play over the net, 'kay?"

"Sure," Gabriella nodded, a bit insecure, "Just don't… hurt me, please?"

"Gabriella," Sharpay said, turning even more serious, "I'll need to learn you some serious slang too. The way you're talking is just… too princess-y, and for royalty. Get it?"

"Okay, can we do this while playing?" Gabriella suggested, not understanding how it could be important which way she talked and spoke, but apparently it could be very important.

"First, I used OMG the other day," Sharpay said, "What's that short for…?"

"Oh," Gabriella said, clutching her hand, "You told me… Brother pocket, I can't remember."

"Shit, Gabriella," Sharpay said, "It's _shit I can't remember_."

"Does OMG stand for that?!" Gabriella's face lit up, "I thought it'd be something along the letters… slang is weird."

"NO!" Sharpay said, almost pulling her hair out, but that would be a shame, since it was so beautiful, "In stead of brother pocket, you're supposed to say shit. And OMG is short of Oh my God."

"But you're not supposed to say God's name." Gabriella questioned.

"No, but we do, got it?" Sharpay simply said, now decided to learn her some tennis instead, because that whole slang thing was really exhausting. How could that girl not know stuff like that? Wasn't she supposed to be a braniac or something?

"Yeah, I think I do." Gabriella said.

Sharpay shot a ball to her. Gabriella tried to hit it, but missed.

"OMG, this is harder than I thought." Sharpay mumbled to herself. She shot another ball, which Gabriella hit into the net. "Try again. It was better this time."

Gabriella nodded. The ball hit the net.

"What are you doing here?" Sharpay suddenly exclaimed.

Gabriella spun around, her eyes landing and a blonde guy. _Ryan, oh no, he shouldn't see me play like this._ _This is so not good_, Gabriella thought.

"Uhm, I just wanted to rehearse my serve." Ryan explained.

"Oh, Ryan could you help me out here. Gabriella is hopeless at tennis. I promised to teach her. Please?" Sharpay begged him.

He looked insecurely at Gabriella. He didn't really want to. Not that Gabby wasn't nice or anything, it was just…

"Please Ry?" Sharpay begged again.

"Okay, I'll do it. If you really want me to." Ryan said, hating when she gave him that look.

Sharpay's face lit up and she mimed 'Thank you' to him.

"But how do you want me to help?" Ryan asked.

"Hmm… If I shoot her some balls, could you correct her when she is doing something wrong?" Sharpay suggested.

"Okay, fine. Then start." Ryan said.

Gabriella had just been staring at Ryan the whole time, so when Sharpay shot a ball towards her she didn't even notice.

"Gabriella, you have to look at the ball, not me." Ryan said.

Gabriella snapped out of her gaze and tried to concentrate on the balls. She hit the next ball and it smacked right into the net. "I am never going to learn this. It is too hard!" Gabriella exclaimed.

"That is because you give up too easily. Here let me show you how you have to hit the ball." Ryan approached her. He placed his racquet on the ground. "See, take your racquet in your left hand and hold it out from your body. Then you take your right hand and say hello to your racquet." Ryan explained.

"Like this?" Gabriella questioned, doing the 'trick' Ryan was teaching her.

"Yeah..." Ryan nodded. "Then you place yourself with your side to Sharpay. You have to hit the ball on your side. So the stroke gets right. Like this." Ryan showed her.

"Oh..." Gabriella said and tried. "Like that?"

Ryan shook his head. He approached her and placed his arm around her and placed his hands on hers. Gabriella was taking in his nice smell and the warmth from his body.

"See you have to do it like this." Ryan did the stroke without any mistakes.

Sharpay was smiling all over her lips. They looked pretty cute together.

"Sharpay could the come with a ball?"

She nodded and shot a ball towards them. Ryan who was still holding around Gabriella made the stoke so Gabriella could feel how she should hit the ball. "Now you try on your own." He let go of her and Sharpay shot another ball.

Gabriella hit it right and it got over the net. "Yes, I did it! Ryan you are the best!" Gabriella ran over and gave him a big tight hug.

"Okay Gabriella could you let go off me?!" Ryan said. He didn't feel comfortable when she hugged him. Gabriella loosened her grip and took a step back, a little sign of hurt written over her face. "I'll better get home. See you guys later." Ryan took off in a hurry.

"Why did he leave?" Gabriella asked, turning to look at Sharpay, a hurt look still plastered on her pretty face, "He doesn't like me, does he?"

"Of course he does!" Sharpay said, but for the first time, she wasn't sure. She hadn't been able to read Ryan's actions all through their game. He had been acting weird, and he was so reluctant to help Gabriella. It didn't seem like him.

"Are you sure?" Gabriella asked, "He was so stiff when I was holding him!"

"I bet he's just nervous around you!" Sharpay suggested, trying more to convince herself than Gabriella.

"Do you think this is way out of hand?" Gabriella asked, "Am I really changing for the better here, or am I just changing for the worse?"

_And with an assist from me  
To be who you'll bee  
Instead of dreary who-you-were: are:  
There's nothing that can stop you  
From becoming popu-  
Ler: lar:_

"I've got it covered Gabby," Sharpay said, quickly running onto the other side of the net, "With my help you'll be the most gorgeous girl at East High… well, except for me, 'cause y'know, nothing can top that, but really! You will be so popular, all the guys will run around you."

"Seriously?" Gabriella asked, not sure if she really liked that idea. All she wanted was to go out with Ryan. But apparently, a lot of stuff had to happen before that was possible.

"You'll be so much better than you used to be, Gabriella." Sharpay said, placing an arm around her, "We're on our way, girl. You made one right stoke today. And when you get better… you can come with me out here on Saturdays when Ryan and I play. I'll dress you up in a cute green tennis outfit – green's your colour, and then… he'll not be able to take his eyes off of you."

"You think so?"

"That green's your colour, of course." Sharpay said.

"Not I meant… he's not gonna be able to take his eyes off of me?"

"Oh baby, he already can't…" Sharpay smiled, pulling her towards the girls changing room.

"Sharpay?" Gabriella questioned, "I just want to thank you once again for helping me. It means a lot to me."

"I'm actually a very nice person," Sharpay reminded her, "And you intended to take the package, remember?"

"I do." Gabriella said, shooting her a cocky grin.

"Goodie," Sharpay just replied, giggling like mad.

"You say _goodie_ a lot, don't you?"

"Goodie is my word." Sharpay said, "I almost invented it."

"I like it," Gabriella mumbled, "It's so Sharpay-ish… which is not a bad thing."

"Goodie." Sharpay said, her face serious.

They looked at each other for a second, wanting to see who would crack up first. Gabriella eventually broke into a giggle, and Sharpay joined her quickly after. They laughed their craziness off, and sat down on the benches to take their tennis shoes off. Then they started taking off their clothes to hit the showers. They were the only two people there, which was good, because Gabriella was kinda shy.

"Oy girl," Sharpay said, giving her a look-over in the shower, "You really need to do something about your bikini line!"

Gabriella dropped her jaw and quickly turned away from Sharpay, the shy side of her, once again taking over.

"Gabby," Sharpay said, "I'm a girl too, I've seen other girls naked before. Why are you so shy? How are you gonna let a guy see you naked someday if you can't even let me see you naked?"

"A guy's gonna see me naked!?" Gabriella shrieked, turning around to look at Sharpay, a wild look in her eyes.

"Uhm yeah," Sharpay said, shaking her head slightly, "That's the whole point of having sex, y'know? You take your clothes off and mostly you're in a bed with your partner, and then you have sex. Please don't tell me I have to teach you that too!" Sharpay paused, "One thing's for sure…! I'm _not_ gonna let you watch!"

* * *

_Okay, so yet another update out of the way. We hope you enjoyed this as much as we enjoyed writing it. Actually, I (Stessa) had imagined this chapter to turn out a lot different then it did, but I guess this is cool too. I dunno, Noukka had a flow and I let her go with it, so please review! And by the way, for any tennis references, please ask Noukka too – she plays tennis, and she wrote all the stuff in the middle with all the terms and grips on a racquet_. 

_**Toodles, **__Noukka and Stessa. _

_Peace out!_


	8. Chapter 7

_Hi, thank you so much for your reviews. We're glad you liked last chapter, and here is the update :)_

**_Disclaimer; _**We don't own High School Musical or Popular.

* * *

**Popular!**

**Chapter 7.**

"So? What do you wanna do today?" Troy asked, looking at Gabriella, as he threw himself on her bed, "The weather is kinda bad. How about watching a movie or so?"

"We could also just talk?" Gabriella suggested, a suggestive look in her eyes. She really wanted to talk, she wanted to talk how his crush on Sharpay was coming along.

"What's fun about that?" Troy asked, "I'm not a girl, I don't do gossip."

"Yeah, yeah," Gabriella mumbled, before she paused. Just then she realized she was starting to act like Sharpay at times. She'd never in her life brushed one of her friends of with a 'yeah, yeah' and ignored them. She was about to say something to Troy, to apologise, when the doorbell rang from downstairs. Since her mother wasn't home, Gabriella quickly jumped the staircase, and opened the front door, only to find Sharpay there, leaning against the frame.

"Hey," she replied, brushing past Gabriella and into the house, "That took its time."

"Sorry," Gabriella said, looking at her blonde friend, "What are you doing here? I have plans… with Troy. He's upstairs."

"That's perfect." Sharpay replied, quickly making her way up the stairs, as if she owned them. Gabriella just followed her, unsure of what to say. They came into Gabriella's room, and Troy was surprised to see Sharpay there. He still wasn't in the mood of talking to her. Let alone being in the same room as her.

"What's going on, Sharpay?" Gabriella asked, sitting down on her bed, while Sharpay stood up, looking around.

"Okay," Sharpay said, throwing her Prada bag on the floor with a clunk, "Next lesson is kissing."

"Huh?"

"Your next lesson, Gabriella," Sharpay said, "It's kissing. You need to learn how to kiss for real if you want a guy like Ryan. Okay, he's my brother, he's a kisser, he kiss all the time. He kissed me. Fine? See, yes, now you need to make out with Troy to learn how to kiss."

"I'm not gonna make out with Troy!" Gabriella said, firmly crossing her arms, "I've never really kissed anyone before, okay? And I don't intend to do it now."

"Okay, then you're gonna have to make out with me instead." Sharpay said, hands on hips, but by the look Gabriella gave her, she continued, "Hallo?! You need to learn how to kiss! It's not a big deal, Gabby. We'll kiss each other, and then you can try on Troy instead, or… something?"

Gabriella looked at Troy, questions floating in her brown pools. "I'm not really sure…"

"Gabriella," Troy said, "I know how much you like Ryan, honestly, a kiss is no big deal. Not if it's just a kiss. It's a different story if you start making out. Just kiss her, it won't be weird at all."

"Glad we agree, Troy." Sharpay said, pushing him away from the bed, where he had been sitting, he landed on the floor, but Sharpay didn't give a shit, she just took a seat where he had been sitting, and looked at Gabriella, "It's just a peck on the lips, Gabby. It's not big deal."

"Okay," Gabriella said, swallowing hard, "Just… we're doing it quickly, okay?"

"Of course," Sharpay smiled, because she couldn't help it. Gabriella was extremely cute and adorable when she was insecure and scared like that. Sharpay couldn't help but care for her, "Just a couple of seconds."

--

_My tender heart  
Tends to start to bleed_

--

Gabriella swallowed a bit, but then slowly leaned in, as Sharpay did the same. Troy was staring in awe at the two girls, as their lips met, and Sharpay took over, letting Gabriella feel how a kiss should be. So maybe they'd been lying before about the whole making out-thingy, but Troy knew they wouldn't have gotten Gabriella to do it unless they told a little lie. He'd caught Sharpay's drift there.

The two girls pulled away, and Troy couldn't help but think that that was _so_ hot. Two hot, beautiful girls making out was every guy's dream, wasn't it?

"Kiss like that," Sharpay smiled, slightly out of breath.

"You lied to me." Gabriella mumbled, turning to look at Troy, "And it doesn't matter anyway, because I don't know what it looks like. You two are gonna have to show me."

"That's pay back time, isn't it?" Sharpay asked, and by Gabriella's nod, she continued, "Oh God, you're getting evil, I'm _so_ proud!"

"I'm not gonna kiss her." Troy said, even though, that particularly action had been in his dreams for a very long time. He wasn't fond of her after he found out she was only using her. Though their almost kiss a couple of days ago had been amazing. Even though it technically wasn't a kiss.

Gabriella shot him a weird look, and he looked back. She stood up and dragged him outside of her room, telling Sharpay they needed two minutes. She just nodded, so Troy and Gabriella stood in the hall, looking at each other. Gabriella knew she was asking a lot of him, but she really needed help.

She just kept looking at him, sending him the puppy dog eyes that she knew he couldn't resist.

"No," Troy said, shaking his head, "I'm not doing, Gabriella. _She_ doesn't like me. I'm not gonna let her use me as her little toy, no matter how bad you need help. I'm not gonna do it. No, nuh-uh, forget it."

"Please, Troy?" Gabriella said, her voice soft and tender, "Please?"

He looked at her, a couldn't turn her down like that, "Fine! But you owe me!"

--

_They were popular! Please -  
It's all about popular!  
It's not about aptitude  
It's the way you're viewed  
So it's very shrewd to be  
Very very popular  
Like me!_

--

"We'll just kiss, and you can just look and take notes or whatever." Sharpay mumbled, sitting, actually a little nervous, next to Troy on Gabriella's bed. She had a crush on this guy, and she was gonna have to kiss him. It was gonna be a little hard to control herself. She could just hope that Troy wouldn't be able to control himself either.

"Fine," Gabriella mumbled. She was very uncomfortable, as she was watching them, getting ready for this kiss.

"Ready?" Troy asked, turning to look at Sharpay. The deep chocolate colour of her eyes, the colour he loved so much, was full of something. Did he dare say… _love_? And even though he actually didn't want this, he still did, because it was the girl of his dreams, and he was getting ready to kiss her.

"Yeah," she whispered, and ever so slowly, they both leaned in, capturing their lips in a heated, but actually much needed kiss. It didn't take them very long to sink into a kiss they had both wanted forever and dreamed about. Sharpay's tongue parted Troy's lips, wanting to fight with his, which he didn't object to. He actually leaned backwards, taking Sharpay with him, so she was on top of him, still kissing him with all she was worth.

Some time later, she broke the kiss, and turned to look at an even more uncomfortable Gabriella. She was one big question mark, and Sharpay awkwardly cleared her throat. "See…" she whispered, breathless, "Now you can try and kiss, Troy. You don't have to do it exactly like that, though."

"I don't plan on it." Gabriella said, taking a seat on the bed, where Sharpay had moved herself from.

"You do have to make it passionate." Sharpay told her, "That's what we're practising. But make it passionate your own way, 'kay?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Goodie," Sharpay smiled, sitting on the chair, "Get to work, guys."

Troy and Gabriella sat there, looking at each other for a second. Troy was gonna let Gabriella do all the work, since she was the one in training, so he waited for her to lean in. She eventually did, and planted her soft lips on his, kissing him the best she could.

Sharpay was watching the kiss, a million of thoughts drifting through her mind. Well, you could barely call it a kiss, which was also one of her million thoughts. She quickly stood up, breaking the kissing people apart, "No, no, no! NO! You're doing it all wrong."

"You said to do it my own way."

"Yeah, but you still had to kiss him." Sharpay said, her eyes wide, "That wasn't a kiss, honey, that was a nothing." She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, "You have to move your mouth like this," she told her, and then she started forming her lips in some weird way, intending for Gabriella to learn it that way.

Troy couldn't help but chuckle of Sharpay's weird methods. She did look funny, standing there, making funny faces. She was good at exaggerating it, but she was an actress, so that was to be expected.

"Can you do that?" Sharpay finished, looking at her with eyes that said 'you better be able to!'.

Gabriella bit her lip, "I'll try." Was all she offered, but that seemed to please Sharpay well enough, because she motioned for the two of them to start kissing again.

Which they did.

When they broke apart Sharpay smiled at them. "Better Gabriella. You are a fast learner when it comes to kissing. The only thing you need is to add some more passion into the kiss. It is the first kiss that reveals if the person you kiss want you. You can tell a difference between a kiss that wants to take it to the next level, you know sex? Or if it's a kiss for love. I'll show you the difference." Sharpay looked at Troy. He was bit nervous if she could tell a difference in his kisses. She placed herself next to him. Slowly they were leaning in for the kiss.

Troy let Sharpay's tongue into his mouth, playing with his. He could feel her hands were playing with his hair. He relaxed a little more and placed his hands on her hips slowly sliding them up towards her breast. He was about to put his hands on her breast, when she broke the kiss. Troy walked over to Gabriella's desk and placed himself in her comfortable chair. He listened to what Sharpay told.

"What kiss was that?" Sharpay questioned.

"Hmm... The kiss that wanted to go on to the next level?" Gabriella guessed.

"Yeah, it is also important what you do with your hands. With them you're actually inviting for different kind of actions. If you really want to get into bed with a guy, be really dirty. Like, while you are kissing him, slowly put your hands underneath his shirt. If you do that you also say is it okay for him to fill you up." Sharpay explained.

Gabriella quickly wrote it down on her block. She looked up a couple of seconds later, though, "Really? I didn't know that. I think I still got a lot to learn. One question: If you play with a guy's hair, then what do you invite to? I mean why did Troy fill you up, when you didn't fill _him_ up?"

Troy began to feel stupid for filling her up. He didn't even know all the stuff Sharpay told Gabriella.

"There is also one more fact. See, it was the kiss that show I wanted to have sex, so I don't have to grab on him, because my kiss is the one inviting. You understand?" Sharpay explained.

"Okay, well could you show me that kiss, where you fill him up?" Gabriella asked. Troy looked evilly at Gabriella. Sharpay crossed the room to him, and placed herself on his lap. It reminded him of their almost kiss. He hoped he could control himself. She began to lean in, placing her hand on his chest. She turned around to Gabriella.

"You can also kiss him on his neck and slowly work up to his mouth. Like this…" Sharpay turned back to Troy, slowly leaning in again. She kissed him lightly at his lips and started to kiss his neck. Gabriella scribbled something on her block. Sharpay kissed his lips again. This time more passionately. Troy could feel her warm hand working to get underneath his shirt. He separated her lips, letting his tongue play with hers. He placed his hands on her ass, sliding them up at her back and down again. He lifted her up and carried her over to Gabriella's bed.

"Guys, please stop. I think I got it." Gabriella started to say. "Stop!" she said again, when their kissing didn't stop.

Non reactions. They just kept on kissing. Troy trailed his kiss down her neck down to the valley between her breasts. Sharpay let out a moan of pleasure.

"Okay… I am just gonna get some water." Gabriella said, wanting to leave the room, "Be right back" she added, and hurriedly left the room.

Sharpay took off his shirt. Troy rolled them over so she was on top. She kissed his chest while he was working on getting her small tube top off. Troy pulled her head down for another heated kiss. She happily obliged. They kept on kissing for the next 10 minutes like that. Gabriella came back to the room with a bottle of water. She got shocked by the sight. They were laying on her bad, kissing , half naked.

"Guys, will you stop right _now_!?" Gabriella demanded, but it didn't help. She opened the bottle and poured it out on them.

"Gabby! That is freaking cold!" Sharpay screamed getting of Troy.

"I told you to stop. You have been going on for like a half hour." Gabriella told them.

"Really? It only felt like a couple of minutes to me." Sharpay blushed and turned to look at Troy. He looked really good without his shirt on. She looked away again wondering what he thought of her. "Well, I hope you learned something. I better get going. Ryan is probably waiting for me." She took her top back on and gave Gabriella a big hug and left them alone.

Troy looked after her, what just happened between them?

* * *

_There you go. Next chapter is done. I(Noukka) think this is one of the best chapters. But why don't you tell me what you think. Please review?_

_**Toodles, **__Stessa and Noukka_

_Peace out!_


	9. Important Anthors Note!

**IMPORTANT A/N!!!!**

Hey guys!

We're sorry to tell you this, but there will be a long delay in this story from now on. Noukka is leaving for Canada tomorrow, and is practically busy all through the holidays. Maybe we will be able to sneak a chapter in during the middle, but just maybe. Stessa is home through the vacation, so she will be able to update her own stuff, but our joint stories are on hiatus for now. We will update the minute we get time.

For _Popular!_ – there's not many chapters left, we hoped we would have been able to finish it like we did with _No Sleep Tonight_, but we didn't have time, so you guys are gonna have to wait. We're really sorry.

For _The Crazy Life of Libby Lee _– there's still a lot of chapters left. Almost the half of the story, so expect a lot of updates once school is starting again. We still have a lot of plans for that story. And Stessa is already working on her part of next chapter, so Noukka only will need to write hers when she get back.

Again, we're sorry, hope you can wait, because the updates won't come.

**Tootles, **Noukka and Stessa.

Peace out!


	10. Chapter 8

_Thank you for the reviews. And here is the long awaited update! _

_**Disclaimer: **We don't own HSM or Popular._

* * *

**Popular!**

**Chapter 8.**

--

_Popular!  
You're gonna be popular!  
I'll teach you the proper ploys  
When you talk to boys_

--

Gabriella stood by her locker, finding her books to next lesson. She was thinking about yesterday, she hadn't slept in her bed, they had almost had sex there. Even though she had changed the covers, but she still didn't want to sleep in her own bed. She had taken a blanket and laid herself on the floor. She knew she was a little bit weird, but who cared.

Sharpay walked up to her. "Hey girl!" she greeted.

"Hey Sharpay." Gabriella said. "What's up?"

"Not much. But you know what?" Sharpay said, really excited.

"No?"

"I think you are ready." Sharpay jumped up and down, clapping her hands.

"Ready for what?" Gabriella asked, confused.

"And I thought you were smart. You are ready to ask Ryan out. Duh." Sharpay said as it was a something Gabriella should know. Like it was supposed to be clear as crystal.

"You think so?" Gabriella's eyes sparkled of happiness.

"Yeah, I have taught you the ground rules. The rest you have to learn of on your own. Use your own experiences." Sharpay said, just as she eyed Ryan down the hall; "Oh, there he is. Go ask him!" she pushed Gabriella towards Ryan.

Gabriella looked at him and all of a sudden, all her courage left her, "No, I can't!" Gabriella exclaimed.

"Yes, come on Gabby. You can do it. It is not that bad. The worst thing that can happen is a no." Sharpay tried to calm her down. She didn't realize that she was giving a very bad pep-talk.

"But no is really bad. I can't do it, Sharpay." Gabriella almost whined.

"Yes. Go on!" Sharpay pushed her the last steps to Ryan, and hurried away, leaving Gabriella alone there, her heart beating like crazy.

"Oh, hi Gabriella." Ryan said, looking up at her, a smile on his face, "Something you wanted?"

_Come on, Gabriella,_ she told herself, letting out a deep breath, _You can do this. It's Ryan, he's so sweet. You are not going to die, just do it. _"I was… I came to ask you something." Gabriella confessed, shooting him the awesome Hollywood- smile she often saw Sharpay use.

"Okay…?" Ryan said, nodding his head a bit.

"Okay what?"

"Okay," Ryan said, chuckling lightly, "That would be your cue to ask me what you wanted to ask me. See?"

Gabriella started giggling madly, "Oh, yeah!" she laughed, "Silly, silly me… Ah, yeah, you see, I just wanted…" she paused and looking into the blue of his eyes, "I just wanted to ask you out."

"Ask me out?" Ryan questioned, cocking an eyebrow, "As… on a date?" he looked confused, which really made Gabriella worried. She thought they were on the same page, but maybe she had just been imagining stuff!

"Yeah…" she told him, her courage immediately falling into the bottom of her stomach, "I really like you, Ryan. I've just.. I've just been really shy, and now I finally thought I ought to ask you." She paused, awaiting his answer, "So do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Wanna go out?"

"Uhm…" Ryan said, not sure of how to say this gently. There really wasn't a way to say it gently at all. It was kinda harsh, but he knew he had to, "Gabriella… You're a really sweet girl." He told her, "I just… I'm gonna have to pass. So, no."

"No?" Gabriella questioned, her heart breaking into a million pieces.

"Yes." Ryan said, nodding his head, "No."

Gabriella turned around on her heal, walking down the hall to find Sharpay. She tried to fight back tears, but it was really hard. Who knew rejection could be that bad?

"_Yes, come on Gabby_." Gabriella said, mimicking Sharpay's earlier, really bad pep-talk, "_You can do it. It is not that bad. The worst thing that can happen is a no_."

--

Sharpay smacked the front door close, threw her purse on the floor, and opened her mouth to scream. She screamed higher than she did when she heard they had to do a call-back. She screamed longer than when she found a spider in her bed when she was 5. She screamed the worst she had ever done, which caused Ryan to stumble down the stairs, almost falling.

"Sharpay!?" he exclaimed, looking perplexed at his twin sister, "Sharpay? What's wrong? Did something happen? Did someone hurt you? What?"

"How could you!?" Sharpay stated, giving him a dirty glare.

"Okay," Ryan mumbled, taking a step back, "So I get the feeling that it was something I did? Whatever it was Sharpay… I'm _really_ sorry."

"How could you say no to Gabriella!?" Sharpay demanded to know, hitting him across the chest, "She's so crushed! I thought you liked her too!"

"I do like her!" Ryan said.

"Then why did you say no when she asked you out on a date!?"

"I don't wanna say…" Ryan whispered, quickly making his way into the kitchen to get away from his raging sister. She was really mad. He had always figured she didn't care about other people, but somehow Gabriella's happiness meant a lot to her.

Sharpay followed him, her high heels clicking against the marvel floor, "What?" She asked, sitting down by the counter, "Why, Ryan? If you like her too, why not?"

"I can't say." Ryan replied, taking a bottle of water out of the fridge. He sat down opposite from her, happy that she had calmed down a little, and had stopped screaming.

"Why?" Sharpay said, "Why can't you tell me?"

"It'sgonnahurtyourfeelings." Ryan mumbled, looking at the table, not daring to look her in the eye.

"I'm sorry," Sharpay said, smacking her hand into the table, "I didn't quite catch that, Ry!"

"It's gonna hurt your feelings!" Ryan finally blurted out, looking his dear sister into the eye. He loved her so much, so maybe this would really hurt her. But it was the truth. Why he wouldn't go out with Gabriella, would really hurt her feelings.

"What?" Sharpay asked, confusedness covering her features, "_Why!?_"

"She's too much like you, okay!?" Ryan yelled, standing up from his seat, "She's like you, exactly like you! She's wearing the same clothes, she's doing the same things, she's wearing makeup and she's flirting and wearing revealing clothes."

"So?" Sharpay questioned. She honestly couldn't see the big deal about that. That was what guys wanted, wasn't it? For girls to wear low cut tops and tight fitting jeans?

"Don't you get it?" Ryan asked, thinking that for _once_, she was the dumb one, "Can't you see it, Sharpay? I liked Gabriella! Not… _Sharella_!"

Sharpay still looked just as confused as before, so he thought he ought to elaborate.

"Sharpay, listen…" he said, moving towards his twin sister, "I love you, and you're perfect the way you are. Nothing should change about you. Just as nothing should change about Gabriella. She was perfect too. I liked her before she became like you. Now she's just… your clone."

"Oh…" Sharpay said, cocking her eyebrows together, "So you're saying you want the old Gabriella back, and then you'll go out with her?"

"Yeah." Ryan said, "In fact, I was hoping to ask her out back then, but suddenly she was… different."

"Are you sure you want all of her back?" Sharpay asked, hopping down from her chair too, "Like… Isn't it cool that she wears just a little makeup, but not too much? And her old clothes, can you honestly say they were cool?"

"I'll agree with you on a few things, Sharpay," Ryan said, looking strangely at his sister, as she backed towards the door, "Her clothes could be cooler, it could be more trendy. Makeup is okay too. But I don't want to date my sister's clone!"

"Okay…" Sharpay said, sending him a smile, "I get you point." She grabbed her bag from the floor and looked at him again, "Now, I _really_ gotta go! Toodles!" and with that she turned around and rushed out the front door, leaving back a very confused Ryan.

--

Sharpay knocked on Gabriella's door, hoping the beauty was home. She almost couldn't stand still. She needed to speak to her, and she needed to speak to her NOW! It was so important.

She'd made a huge mistake in her changes and the judgment she had given the poor girl. How could she not have seen this? Her brother wasn't superficial like her, he cared about the inside, so looks shouldn't be important. She had an idea though, so all this wouldn't be a waste. They could still make it work.

Mix _and_ match.

"Come on, Gabby…" she whispered, ringing the doorbell, and then knocking 5 times, "Please, please, please be home! Please!"

The door opened, and Sharpay let out a huge sigh of relief, when she came face to face with Gabriella.

"Gabby!" she exclaimed, sending her friend a smile, "Do you still have your old clothes?"

* * *

_So, we hope this was worth the wait. Was it? Leave us a review, and next chapter will reveal what Sharpay has of ideas._

_**Toodles, **__Noukka and Stessa. _

_Peace out!_


	11. Chapter 9

_Here is the next update. Thank you so much for your reviews! They mean the world to us! _

_**Disclaimer;** We don't own HSM or Popular._

* * *

**Popular!**

**Chapter 9.**

--

_Now that I've chosen to be come a pal, a  
Sister and adviser  
There's nobody wiser  
Not when it comes to popular -  
I know about popular_

--

Ryan opened his locker, finding his books for first period. They had homeroom first, but no use going back to get them out after. He felt kinda bad about turning Gabriella down yesterday, because he actually really liked her. She was just turning into another Sharpay, and it wasn't because he hated his sister, it was just a little gross.

He liked Gabriella, because she was Gabriella. He admitted that she could use a haircut and a few new jeans, but he didn't want her to wear sparkly clothes like Sharpay. He wanted her to be Gabriella, with a few changes. But if she hadn't changed, that would have been okay too, he wasn't superficial.

Sharpay had acted really weird yesterday during their talk. She wasn't hurt, like he'd thought she would be, she was… in a hurry to get out of there. He had no idea what she was up to now, and he couldn't wait to figure it out. She had come home really late last night, so she didn't even speak to him, she went straight to bed.

He grabbed his math book, and stuffed it into his bag. He then fixed his hat and closed his locker. Just then gasps were heard from down the hall, and he turned around to find everybody looking at two people, who had just entered their school.

It was a blonde girl, and a brunette girl. There was no doubt who it was. Sharpay was wearing her usual sparkly outfit. A pink top, and a white skirt. Knee high boots and her hair was in a two braids. But the person next to her, was just… _wow_.

Gabriella was wearing a plain white top, with a light pink button-up shirt over it. She was then wearing a jeans skirt, and a pair of her black flat, shoes. Her hair was down straight, and you couldn't tell if she was wearing makeup or not. She looked… perfect.

Ryan seriously had to pick his jaw up from the floor. She was back to her old self, but with a few improvements. Just liked he'd wished her to be. The jeans skirt was Sharpay-ish, but not too much, and her top and shoes were clothes he'd seen her wear before Sharpay gave her the complete makeover.

Gabriella was now a mix between herself and Sharpay, which worked very well. It made her look radiant and sophisticated. Not plain and normal, like before. Or not Slutty and self centred like just yesterday. She was just… really, really beautiful.

He knew what he had to do now. He had to march right over there and ask her out before someone else beat him to it. With the way she looked today, he was sure someone else would have the same thoughts as himself. He just hoped she'd agree to go out with him even though he had said no yesterday. He prayed she would say yes.

--

Gabriella was nervous, as she felt everyone's eyes on her and Sharpay when they entered the school. She heard gasps, and couldn't help a blush creep into her cheeks. Sharpay just held her head high and waltzed down the hallway, Gabriella trailing behind her.

They stopped by Sharpay's locker, where she fixed her makeup, and Gabriella looked down the hallway, where she found Ryan, staring intensely at her. She could feel the butterflies in her stomach, hoping he might ask her out now. She would say yes in a heartbeat.

Sharpay turned to her, a smile playing on her over-glossed lips, "I think he's coming, oh yes, Gabby!" she said, "He is _so_ coming. Stay there, I'm gonna hide behind my locker."

She pushed Gabriella a few steps forward and opened her locker wide, moving the stand behind it, as if she was busy getting something in the back of it. Not that it really worked, it was obvious that she was listening intensely.

"Hi…" Gabriella smiled, when Ryan stopped in front of her. She fiddled with her jeans skirt, straightening out invisible wrinkles on it. "What's up?"

Ryan awkwardly cleared his throat, "Hey…" he smiled, "You look good today, Gabriella."

Sharpay let out at snigger from inside her locker, and Gabriella awkwardly smacked her hand against it, causing it to hit Sharpay in the back of her head. She then cried out in pain and retired her head from the locker, rubbing it awkwardly. She shot Gabriella a death glare and closed her locker, moving down the hallway as fast as her high heels would allow her.

"You were saying?" Gabriella asked, a sweet smile on her lips, even though she had just injured his sister.

"You look good today." Ryan repeated, letting his eyes move down her body, taking in every inch of it.

Gabriella let out a giggle, "You too." She said, "Anything you wanted then?"

"Ah…" Ryan awkwardly scratched his nose, figuring out a way to approach this. It was kinda bad when he just turned her down yesterday, but he really had to do this. He figured she must like him too, since she asked him out.

"Ah what?" Gabriella asked. The table had certainly turned since yesterday, when she had been the dumb one, who didn't know how to form her question.

"I really just wanted to ask you out." Ryan smiled, licking his lip, "If you want to?"

"Go out with you?" Gabriella teased him, "Duh, I like you Ryan. I asked you yesterday. Of course I'll go out with you!"

"Really?!"

"Sure." Gabriella said, "When? I'm free."

"Friday, at 6 o'clock." Ryan smiled, "We'll just hit the movies, maybe, and then go eat something on a café or something."

"Sounds good." Gabriella said, "I'll see you there." And then she turned around, waltzing down the hallway, shipping her hips from side to side, the way Sharpay had taught her to do. When she turned the corner, she found Sharpay listening closely to their conversation, and when she saw her tutor, she couldn't help but let out a high squeal and hug her to death.

"I guess he asked you out then?" Sharpay laughed.

"Yes…" Gabriella whispered, "This is the best day ever. Thank you so much Sharpay."

"Yeah," Sharpay mumbled, "I can't believe I helped you when you turn violent against me." she rubbed her head again, "Those locker doors can really smack."

"I'm sorry." Gabriella told her, letting out a deep breath, "But it worked, we're going out this Friday."

"Great," Sharpay said, "We have to pick out an outfit."

**--**

It was Friday afternoon. Sharpay was over at Gabriella's house. They were getting Gabriella ready for her big date with Ryan. Gabriella was really nervous. She was about to call Ryan and call off the date, but Sharpay had taken her phone. Sharpay was looking at all Gabriella's clothes. She wanted her to look really great, but not too dressed. They were only going to the movies.

She couldn't decide between the red short dress with Gabriella's red ballerina shoes or her skinny jeans with a green short dress together with the white high heels. Maybe the dress was too much. Gabriella was looking at Sharpay.

"What would you rather wear?" Sharpay finally asked Gabby.

"The green dress and the jeans. I personally think the red dress is too much." Gabriella decided.

"Couldn't you have told me that before, then I didn't need to spend 10 minutes thinking which one you should wear?" Sharpay complained. "Now change. You still need to do your hair and make-up."

Gabriella took the clothes and changed quickly. Sharpay looked at her. Yeah, it would work perfectly. Not too dressed, but beautiful still.

Gabriella put herself on her bed. "Sharpay, I don't think I can do this. He won't like me. I am too boring. I am not sexy enough. I can't satisfy him." Gabriella totally freaked out.

"Gabriella, look at me! You are smart and sexy and beautiful. Ryan like you just the way you are. Even if you are a little bit boring as you claim you are. You can do this Gabby. After all I won't let you give up now that we have come so far." Sharpay tried to assure her.

"NO, I can't. Sharpay please come with me?!" Gabriella begged Sharpay with her puppy eyes.

"No. I don't want to be the third wheel. I don't want to look at you two kissing the whole evening. That is just waste of time and it is gross." Sharpay said.

"Please?!" Gabriella said in desperation.

"NO!" Sharpay hold.

"What if I make Troy come? Then you aren't alone" Gabriella suggested.

"Okay. But if he doesn't show up. You are dead." Sharpay warned her.

"Fine, can I have my phone back so I can call him?" Gabriella asked.

"Okay, but I have to go. Suddenly I have got a date, you know." Sharpay winked, and handed Gabriella her phone. "Toodles." She waved and left Gabriella's room.

Gabriella sighed. Now she just had to convince Troy to come. Gabriella crossed her fingers and called Troy up. He answered it right away.

"Gabby?" Troy asked.

"Yes, Troy I need your help." Gabriella told him.

"No. I am not gonna be your doll or whatever you want me to." Troy said, freaking out immediately. He would not let them put more makeup on him, he sat his foot down!

"Well, you don't have to. Ryan have asked me out." Gabriella explained.

"Then what do you need my help for?" Troy questioned.

"You have to go with me and be Sharpay's date." Gabriella said and waited for the thunder she knew he would come with.

"NO WAY AM I GOING AS SHARPAY'S DATE!" Troy yelled into the phone.

Gabriella held the cell away from her ear, not wanting to lose her hearing, "Troy please? She is going to kill me if you aren't there. Anyway, you look like you liked each other when you kissed in my room." Gabriella begged him.

"Well, we don't." Troy denied.

"Troy please? You promised me you would help me. Please?"

"Yeah, but I have already helped you more than enough. You put makeup on me." Troy said.

"Pretty please, Troy?!"

Okay, it couldn't hurt. And he would keep what he promised her. And get a hot date. He couldn't deny that he liked Sharpay no matter how much he tried, "Okay" Troy finally gave in.

"Thank you so much. Come over to my house at 6. See you then." Gabriella hung up so he didn't have a change to back out. She went into the bathroom and did her hair and make-up.

Tonight was gonna be great!

* * *

_Well then. Another chapter done. We will try to post the last ones soon. There's only two left, so it will be finished before our summer holidays are over. But there will probably be a little more than a week before next update, since Stessa is going away for a week next Monday. We will update as soon as she get back though. We hoped you liked this, and next chapter is the date!_

_**Toodles, **__Noukka and Stessa._

_Peace out!_


	12. Chapter 10

Thank you very much for the reviews. They mean the world to us. We proudly present: chapter 10!

_**Disclaimer; **We don't own HSM or the song "Popular"._

* * *

**Popular!**

**Chapter 10. **

Troy annoying tapped his fingers against the table, looking at Gabriella, who kept checking her watch every two seconds. It was no wonder, really. The twins were 17 minutes late, so far. Who knew when they'd show up?

"Seriously, Gabby…" Troy moaned, clunking his head into the table several times before stopping because it hurt too much, "Why aren't they here yet?"

"It's not my fault they're late Troy." Gabriella said, furrowing her brow. She was dressed up in the cute outfit that Sharpay had picked out for her. And Troy was sure that when Ryan saw her, he'd freak out.

"Uhm, who's idea was it that we came here?" Troy questioned out loud, not really expecting an answer, "That was yours, I believe." He looked around in the restaurant, "And why are we here, weren't we watching a movie or something?"

"Well, Sharpay and I changed our minds…" Gabriella paused, and bit her lip, "Or actually, Sharpay changed her mind: she said Ryan and I would get more out of the date if we just ate and stuff."

"As simple as that." Troy mumbled, squeezing his eyes tightly, "And when you and Ryan go make out, I'm stuck with the Mountain Lion, thank you very much."

"You know," a voice behind them said, "I've never really figured if I should take that in a negative way or as a compliment."

"Hey Sharpay…" Troy grinned, lifting his head to look at the Evans twins, "And Ryan; you guys are late!"

"No shit, Sherlock." Sharpay mumbled, throwing herself into the seat next to Troy, while Ryan sat down next to Gabriella. Troy felt kinda surprised that she didn't comment on him calling her Mountain Lion, but she was probably so used to it now, that coming from him, didn't mean anything.

Ryan looked at Gabriella, a shy smile playing on his lips. The smile matched hers, he knew, because she was just as shy. He gave her the once-over and his eyes glinted, "You look nice, Gabby." He said, "Very nice."

"Thank you." Gabriella smiled, blushing like crazy. This was all new to her, she had no idea how to act on dates, but she figured it was best just to be herself. "You look nice too." She eyes his hat at giggled slightly, "I like it. A pink hat. You have to be manly to wear that."

"Oh, you don't get it much more manly than me." Ryan said, trying his best to charm himself into the beautiful girl sitting in front of him. He was new in this too. The one with the experience on this table, was Sharpay, and she had enough advices for them to last a lifetime. Most of them were really bad, though, that had already been proved, by the whole Gabriella fiasco, "I'm manly, you know."

Sharpay let out a snigger from across the table, and raised her eyebrow, by the looks she received from the lovebirds, "Manly you say?" she laughed again, "Please Ry, you're more feminine than you're manly. I'm not saying this to hurt you, I'm just telling the truth."

"You know what?" Ryan sad, eyeing his sister evilly, "I suddenly don't feel like double dating with you two weirdoes!" he pushed his chair back, and grabbed Gabriella's hand, "We'll go for a walk. See ya' later."

They headed towards the door, Gabriella trailed behind him, and Sharpay turned to give him one last shout:

"I love you too, Ry! Don't worry!"

Troy laughed, a teasing smile on his lips, when Sharpay turned back to look at him. She broke into a full belly laugh too, and they just couldn't stop themselves. They ended up getting some pretty odd stares from the people surrounding them, but they didn't care. They just had fun.

"Ah, I know it was mean…" Sharpay said, brushing a tear away from her cheek – that's how much she laughed, "But I did feel the need to pick on him."

"It's okay," Troy said, "I understand. He is kinda feminine!"

"Glad we agree," Sharpay just mumbled, studying his face closely. Their make-out session was still clear in her mind, and _God_! Had she enjoyed that or what? She just didn't know how to approach a talk about it. It was Troy, for God's sake! He wasn't just any guy, he was the school hottie, super bomb.

Troy nodded, and then sat in silence for awhile, just looking at each other. None of them knew what to do next, so it was a good thing, that an overjoyed waitress came to ask for their orders, and Troy ordered a black coffee, while Sharpay decided on a chocolate mocha.

--

Ryan dragged Gabriella quickly after him. He didn't want his sister to ruin the evening he was spending with Gabriella. She had dressed beautifully up for him; he couldn't stop staring at her.

"Where are you taking me?" Gabriella asked, sending him a perfect smile.

"The park." Ryan told her, just as they reached the entrance. He slowed down and turned to look at her, "Are you hungry?"

"A little. We didn't get anything at the restaurant, you know?" Gabriella had to admit.

"Yeah, I know. Do you want a hotdog?" Ryan asked her.

"Sure, it sounds fine to me." Ryan took Gabriella's hand and then they got a hotdog. Gabriella couldn't believe he was holding her hand. It felt like the best thing in the world.

"Two hotdogs." Ryan ordered.

"Here you go." The man said and gave him the two hotdogs. Ryan let go of her hand and Gabriella couldn't help it, but she felt a little down because of it. Ryan gave her one of the hotdogs.

"Sorry for being late, but you know Sharpay. She wanted to look perfect. I think it is weird. I mean it is Troy she had to be with. They can't stand each other." Ryan said after awhile of silence.

"You know what?" Gabriella said and took another bit of her hotdog. Ryan shook his head. "Don't be offended by this, but Sharpay had to teach me how to kiss. So I tried to kiss with Troy and she just broke us up. Then she showed me how to do it with Troy, and they ended out kissing for like 10 minutes. On.my.bed."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they started kissing on the chair. I left because I couldn't stand looking at them. But when I came back to my room, they were lying in the bed, half naked. I had to change my sheets. They were almost doing it." Gabriella said, and put the last of her hotdog in her mouth. Ryan took her hand again, it gave her goosebumbs. She sent him a smile because of it.

"Can I ask you one thing?" Ryan asked, and Gabriella nodded, so he continued, "Why did you have to learn how to kiss?"

She blushed wildly, but decided that she was going to take this risk. She was gonna do it. She took a deep breath, and leaned in, whispering: "So I could do this," and then she placed her lips on top of his. She put her arms around his neck. She could feel his hands on her hips. Ryan stopped kissing her and she opened her eyes, and looked into his blue pools. Their heads were touching each other.

"I love you." Ryan said.

"I love you too." Gabriella agreed.

Ryan dragged them towards the bench and sat down. She just kept looking into his eyes. She couldn't get enough of them. Ryan placed his hand on her cheek, closing his eyes, slowly leaning in for another perfect kiss. Gabriella happily applied, putting her arms around Ryan, starting to play with his hair.

This date was absolutely perfect.

--

"So, how is your chocolate mocha?" Troy ending up asking, trying to start a conversation with her, though he was a bit nervous. It was the first time he really spoke with her, and was alone with her since their make-out session.

"Good. Wanna taste?" Sharpay offered, pushing it nearer Troy.

He looked shortly at her, but then took a sip of it, "Mmmhh... I should have gotten one of those. They are really good." he finished, licking his lip.

Sharpay looked at him, slowly leaning over the table, "You have something on your face." She told him and reached out to remove it.

Troy took her hand and locked his own in it, which cause Sharpay to send him a small smile. Troy took in a deep breath, and decided to do it, "Sharpay, I... I just want you to know that..." he stopped, feeling really insecure for one of the first times in his life.

"Yes, Troy. What is it you want to tell me?" Sharpay said, looking into his ocean blue eyes. The eyes she loved so much.

"Remember when you were about to kiss me at your house?" Troy said.

"Yeah, I do. What about it?" Sharpay asked, wondering where he was going with this conversation. She just hoped he was going, where she wanted him to be.

"Why would you kiss me back then?" Troy finally asked, looking down at their linked hands.

"Uhm, I don't know. I think... No, Troy why are you asking me this?" Sharpay asked, now clearly confused.

"Why? Sharpay, it has been torturing me ever since you kissed me at Gabriella's. I have wanted more. Sharpay, I think I might be in love with you." He looked into her chocolate brown pools, looking for an answer in them.

Sharpay didn't know what to say. Her dream guy had just said that he loved her. There was only one thing to do. Troy, was still trying to find an answer, when her head suddenly started to come closer. He could tell where this was going. Their lips met in a heated kiss.

He let his lips explore hers, not before their tongue's broke the other's lips, and they started a mayor fight inside her mouth. He could feel his heart fluttering, as her hands went into his hair, and his own moved towards her waist. He knew he'd kissed her before, but this was just mind-blowing. They pulled apart, breathing heavily, as their eyes locked, and smiles erupted on their faces.

There was only one more thing to ask…

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Troy breathed, hoping with all his heart that she would.

"Yes…" Sharpay quickly said and moved in for another kiss.

* * *

_There you have it, guys. We hope this chapter was worth the wait! We enjoyed writing this, and thanks for all the support. Please remember to leave us a review, because next chapter is the last – the epilogue._

_**Toodles, **Noukka and Stessa._

_Peace out!_


	13. Epilogue

_Hey guys. Thank you for the reviews. We loved them. Here is the last chapter for you guys, and sorry about the wait, school start have been crazy, and we don't even talk anymore, since we go to different schools now, so we're on MSN at completely different times. _

_**Disclaimer: **We don't own HSM or "Popular"._

* * *

**Popular!**

**Epilogue.**

"Sharpay are you done soon? The guys are waiting for us, I am sure. You have been in there for a half hour soon!" Gabriella whined. All four had planned to play tennis together. They were only waiting for Sharpay to get ready. And as usual she took like forever to get done.

"You can't rush perfection. Troy can't see me when I look like shit!" Sharpay yelled, through the door.

"Sharpay, you always look perfect no matter what. Even if you are wearing a baggy shirt and sweatpants. Get your butt out here! Like now!" Gabriella almost yelled back.

Sharpay opened the door and popped her head out, "Sorry, Gabby. I am coming now." She spoke and stepped all out. She was wearing a pink tennis skirt and a white sports top. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail. In her hand was her pink racquet, "Are you ready too?"

"Yeah…" Gabriella replied, scanning her own, simple tennis outfit. It was one of Sharpay's old, but at least it wasn't pink, "I'm ready, let's get out there."

They stepped out of the changing rooms and into the bright sun. They could see the guys on the tennis court, so they hurried over there, jumping excitingly like little girls.

Troy and Ryan approached each a girl, and scooped their girlfriends for 4 months into their arms. Ryan greeted Gabriella with a light kiss on the lips, while Troy spun Sharpay around in a circle, her pink skirt flowing.

"Put her down Troy, she's mooning us!" Ryan whined, covering his eyes, so he couldn't see his sister's butt.

"Sorry," Troy laughed, "Let's play then, shall we? You guys still need to teach me this game."

"It's alright," Sharpay said, as she pulled him towards the court, "Gabby sucks too, so Ryan and I will just play if you guys can't."

"Yeah, 'cause that's fun." Gabriella sarcastically replied, moving her racquet into the air, to see if she could hit a ball Ryan threw her – she just missed.

"Yeah, so are your tennis skills." Sharpay shot back, as she was showing Troy a regular move on the other side of the net. That was how it went on for a little while. Sharpay tried to teach Troy the basic things, but they somehow ended making out in stead, and Ryan tried to teach Gabriella some moves too. He was in for making out as well, but Gabriella was determined to beat Sharpay, so she didn't want to waste any time.

About 20 minutes later, they started their game. By then Taylor and Chad had settled down to watch from afar, Taylor keeping track on the game, like a referee. Chad understood zero of it all, but he had fun seeing Troy miss every ball, and Sharpay yell at him.

It went better for Gabriella and Ryan, but still, Sharpay was good enough to keep a tie, though Troy was hopeless. He simply gave up in the end, and sat down beside Chad, just looking at his girlfriend as she moved around on the court. He found it rather enjoyable, because her skirt flew above her thighs, and gave him a nice view.

"Ha, and I get two points!" Gabriella exclaimed, jumping excitingly up and down, her hair bouncing.

"_We_ get two points, honey." Ryan corrected her, taking a sip of the water that Chad handed him.

"Yeah of course, _we_ did." Gabriella smiled, padding him lightly on the arm, before turning back to the game again, facing Sharpay.

"I think I'm gonna sit down." Ryan told the others, sitting down next to Troy, "She won't even notice I'm not there. How come the both of them are so competitive?"

"I guess Sharpay really did change Gabriella at some points of her personality." Taylor mumbled, as she watched the ball fly back and forth between the two girls, "It's scary, but okay, I guess…"

"Should we go get some ice cream?" Troy suggested, now getting bored with the game as well. It was no fun just watching them play tennis. And he was getting kinda hungry.

"And leave them there?" Ryan questioned, shooting his sister's boyfriend a weird look.

"I don't think they'll notice." Chad replied, standing up, "Let's get some sugar, guys!"

The other three agreed and they left the two competitive girls, to go get something sweet. Sharpay and Gabriella kept on playing, the ball moving quickly through the air.

"I'm gonna win this, Blondie!" Gabriella said, hitting the ball.

"Oh no!" Sharpay hit the ball, sending it to the back of Gabriella's court, "I will! You're nothing compared to me, Gabs."

"I'm so gonna beat you!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-uh!"

"Don't you uh-uh my nuh-uh!"

"I'm gonna beat you, face the facts!"

"So not!"

"Will do!"

"Will not!"

"Do!"

"Not!"

"Do!"

"Not!"

"Do!"

"No-ot!"

… _time laps. Hours later …_

"Do!"

"Not!"

"Do!"

"Not!"

"Do!"

"Not!"

"Do!"

"Not!"

Suddenly Gabriella stopped as the lights turned on around the court, and the ball hit the ground because she almost couldn't see. She turned around to look at the bench, but no one was there. She turned back to Sharpay, who looked just as confused, "When did they leave?"

"Maybe around the thousandth 'Do!', I honestly have no idea…" Sharpay said, tiredly throwing herself onto the court, resting her sore legs.

"I'm so tii-red!" Gabriella whined, moving over to lie down next to her, "I guess we got kinda competitive."

"Kinda?" Sharpay cursed, "Gah, we were like Monica from 'Friends' playing Pictionary."

Gabriella giggled and looked Sharpay in the eye, "Do you want to go get something to eat? I'm starving."

"Yeah," Sharpay said, standing up, and pulling Gabriella with her, "I hope they didn't take my car…"

"I think I could eat a cow." Gabriella mumbled, slowly making her way towards Sharpay's pink convertible.

"But it was worth all the pain, because I still won." Sharpay said, sitting down in the smooth seat, resting her body again.

"You did not win, I won!" Gabriella argued, sitting down as well.

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-uh!"

………………………………………………………**The End.**

* * *

_So yeah. We got kinda crazy here with the end now. But ah, it was hard to end it, and we really didn't have much planned for the epilogue to begin with, so there you have it. Thanks for reading this story, and reviewing as well. It meant a lot to us. Please review one last time._

_**Toodles, **__Noukka and Stessa. _

_Peace out!_


End file.
